Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital issued a press release on Tuesday reporting five cases of Cytomegalovirus related rectal bleeding in COVID immunocompetent patients in India. As per the release some of the patients came in complaining of rectal bleeding, which upon diagnosis was linked to Cytomegalovirus. All these patients experienced this condition after testing positive for COVID 19.
"These patients came with abdominal pain & bleeding in stools with nearly 20-30 days after the diagnosis of COVID," said Prof Anil Arora of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
"During the second wave of the Covid-19 in April-May 2021, we have seen five cases of CMV infection in otherwise immunocompetent patients with Covid-19. These patients presented with pain abdomen and bleeding in stools with a mean of 20 to 30 days after the diagnosis of Covid-19," a statement released by the hospital read.
None of them had other predisposing immunosuppressed states accounting for this viral infection, the statement added.
All five cases were from Delhi-NCR and were detected in the age group of 30 to 70 years. Four of them experienced bleeding in their stool while one other experienced intestinal obstruction.
"In such cases of high index of suspicion and timely intervention in the form of an early diagnosis and effective antiviral therapy can save many precious lives, Dr. Praveen Sharma of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said.