A very close family friend had a close call recently as he started out with some type of upper respiratory infection which got worse and worse. What started out as a bad cold (seemingly) very quickly turned into something much worse. He coughed constantly, ran a fever up to 102, was short of breath, and was exhausted just walking across the room. He couldn’t lie down as that made his cough worse and he couldn’t breathe lying down. So, he had to sit straight up in a chair 24/7. He was tested for COVID-19 which came back negative, thank goodness. Actually, I’m glad he was tested but as he got worse I felt sure he had an opportunistic, secondary bacterial infection. He has a history of getting a simple “cold” which turns into pneumonia as I described. At this point, he was “eligible” for a high potency antibiotic. I hate antibiotics in general and never prescribed them for something that seemed to be caused by a virus such as the flu or common cold. But let’s face it, they can be life saving when used appropriately. His family doctor wanted him admitted to the hospital but with what is going on there I did some tall talking and talked him into calling in the antibiotic. Knowing that I am a retired Physician, his doctor agreed to the antibiotic. I had to assure him that I would help take care of my friend and keep close check on his temperature, oxygen levels (with a Pulse Oximeter), cough, shortness of breath, etc. As it turned out, I was right (thank goodness) and my friend responded almost immediately to the antibiotic. He is in his 80’s, has co-morbidities (COPD, Diabetes, and a history of Asthma, as well as Cardiac disease) as well as his history of previous episodes of the same type illnesses. I knew I was taking a chance but again, with hospitals overrun with coronavirus patients, I felt the chance was worth it.
My friend was very grateful that I was able to keep him out of the hospital and has asked me more than once to explain the “virus” vs. the “opportunistic, secondary bacterial infection” to him and suggested I write a blog on it.
By the way, he also wanted me to include a brief message about the COVID-19 infection. I only want to mention the fact that this illness is caused by a “new” strain of the coronavirus. The coronavirus has been around for a long time but this pandemic is caused by a new strain. That is one reason it is worse than the “flu.” Many of us have built up an immunity to the viruses that cause the flu (as well as get flu shots) and many flu viruses are not as highly contagious as this new coronavirus strain. There are many things about this new “virus” that we still don’t know and many scientists are frantically working to find answers to. But I feel strongly that people need to realize why this is different from the “flu.” We need to heed the warnings from our health professionals and obey the rules as best we can to protect ourselves and others.
Good luck to you all and if you have any questions, I would be happy to try to answer them.
