Happy Hypoxia With SARS-CoV-2 Pneumonitis: A Life-Threatening Case of a Medical Doctor
The second wave of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) had devastating consequences in developing countries like Nepal and India. SARS-CoV-2 affected everyone, encompassing all professions, age brackets, and socioeconomic levels. Symptoms, along with the SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results, were the primary factors used to determine whether patients should be instructed to quarantine at home or be admitted to hospitals immediately. Happy hypoxia refers to a situation where a patient shows no respiratory symptoms yet experiences a decline in oxygen saturation levels. This drop can go unnoticed, potentially resulting in a sudden deterioration of the patient's condition, with reports of fatalities occurring. We present a case involving a physician who experienced a sore throat and fever as symptoms but had no respiratory distress, along with a decrease in oxygen saturation to 87% at home and 82% at the hospital, resulting in a near-fatal situation.
Authors
- Padmini Yadav (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0635-9316)
- Jigyasa Sharma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8860-0710)
- Jyoti Sharma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8044-6384)
- Prashant Tripathi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9475-6287)
- Rahim R Sewani
Institutions
- Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (IN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cureus
- Published
- 2025-03-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.80181
- Primary Topic
- Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00