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The current wave of the pandemic is causing many more deaths. The victims of COVID-19 are much younger people, around 40 and 50 years old.
- – Vaccinated patients experience coronavirus infection much easier and die sporadically – says Dr. Mariusz Krata, director of the Temporary Covid Hospital in Wałbrzych
- In the hospital in Wałbrzych, it happened that as many as five patients died in one day. All unvaccinated
- ECMO is a very expensive method of oxygen treatment, the monthly cost of the treatment is about PLN million. And some patients are connected to ECMO for up to three months
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
Edyta Brzozowska, Medonet: How would you describe the current wave of the pandemic?
Dr. Mariusz Krata, medical director, head of the Temporary Covid Hospital in Wałbrzych: The fourth wave causes many more deaths. While in previous pandemic attacks it was difficult to talk about the dependence of the course of the disease on vaccination, because the vaccination campaign has just started, now we know that mostly unvaccinated people die. Before that, people over 70 were dying, now victims of COVID-19 are people much younger, around 40 and 50 years old.
There are patients with Delta, which is one of the variants of the coronavirus. A patient who came from Great Britain had it. She was in a very bad condition, and we had to be even more careful in our contacts, because the virus is extremely aggressive.
One thing that has not changed is that seniors with additional diseases cope much worse with the disease. Vaccinated patients develop coronavirus infection much, much easier and die sporadically.
How do the unvaccinated explain their aversion to the COVID-19 vaccine?
Very different, but in all cases their arguments are, to put it mildly, irrational. Recently I heard from a patient that there is graphene in vaccines, so she absolutely will not get vaccinated. However, similar nonsense is formulated by anti-vaccineists in plain language. And the message is: vaccines are bad and very harmful. Which is of course totally untrue.
The rest of the article is available under the video.
How old was the youngest deceased hospital patient?
He was an unvaccinated 28-year-old with obesity, which was his greatest health burden. He died from COVID-19 dramatically fast. For two days we asked for one thing: that he should breathe properly. And as long as he was breathing, his saturation parameters were acceptable. That is, those in which the brain would not become hypoxic and aggravated the disease process. Unfortunately, on the second day the boy simply gave up completely. We put him in a tub, put him on a respirator, but he died four days later.
It’s scary seeing young people die. And that we are completely helpless in this respect.
Another patient was 43 years old. The prognosis was good, but at one point a massive pulmonary embolism appeared. The man died.
- The editorial board recommends: Why do young people die from COVID-19? [WE EXPLAIN]
The hospital has been operating for just over a year. How many patients have died from COVID-19 so far?
It happened that five patients died in one day in the 43-bed ward. In the basic X-ray of the lungs, very large lesions are determined. Some patients are admitted in such a serious condition that, despite treatment, they die in a frighteningly short time as a result of increasing multi-organ failure.
ECMO won’t save them, last chance therapy?
ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) is a technique of extracorporeal blood oxygenation that can be used in people without significant accompanying diseases. People with multiple disease burdens are not qualified for this method of treatment.
I would like to add that, apart from everything else, ECMO is a very expensive method of treatment, the monthly cost of the treatment is about PLN million. And some patients are connected to ECMO for up to three months. In addition, there are a dozen or so ECMO devices, and there are hundreds of patients who could use this method.
Patients with multiple diseases are just suffocating?
Yes, they die in the course of severe respiratory failure. Let me put it figuratively: healthy lungs are flexible. In people with COVID-19, the lungs have the consistency of the liver.
What do you consider to be your greatest success in treating the coronavirus?
I remember a young 33-year-old woman, mother of three. She went to the ward with saturation of 36%. We used high-flow oxygen therapy, which means she was inhaling it on her own. Saturation eventually increased to 80. And for her the most important argument in the fight for breath was the answer to the question I asked her: Do you girl want your children to go to your cemetery? And they read the inscription “here lies mummy who did not want to fight for herself”? And she began to practice. Those were days of really tough fighting for her. And amazing! She left the hospital on day 14, and the control picture showed practically no changes in the lungs. This is the happiest and most spectacular case in which the patient was able to save her life without complications.
Breathing in COVID-19 is an idée fixe for you.
Of course. I want my patients to do it not only when a physiotherapist comes for 15 minutes. Everyone on the ward, doctors and nurses alike, pay special attention to this. And the patients mobilize themselves when every now and then in the room a slogan from a ringleader says: “we exercise”, we all practice this breathing in harmony. They repeat it several times a day, which gives positive results.
Are you worried about the side effects? Check your health by completing a comprehensive research package for convalescents.
This may interest you:
- Who dies most often from COVID-19 in Poland? There are two groups
- This is how the coronavirus kills. The doctor tells you what “fails” in the body
- This medicine is expected to reduce the risk of death in unvaccinated people
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