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Bengaluru man with ‘physique of a bodybuilder’ dies of Covid-19

Doctors say it could be high viral load
Last Updated 18 October 2020, 20:39 IST

A 29-year-old physically fit man with no comorbidities or underlying health conditions died of Covid-19 in the city on Sunday afternoon.

Shariff (name changed), a resident of Yelahanka, first developed symptoms of the disease on October 3 when he started showing signs of a minor cold. “Within a day, he developed fever, but it quickly subsided,” said his brother-in-law, Moula Ali.

However, by the morning of October 13, he had trouble breathing and was taken to a private clinic in Yelahanka, where the doctor diagnosed pneumonia and referred him to Victoria Hospital. “At Victoria Hospital, a Covid-19 test found that he was positive for the disease,” Ali said.

Dr Smitha Segu, nodal officer for Covid-19 at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), which manages Victoria Hospital, said that Shariff was in a bad condition by the time he had come to the hospital. “His oxygen saturation was under 50% and we immediately had him placed on High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC), which delivers oxygen nasally,” Dr Smitha said.

She added that drips were started because his condition was steadily deteriorating. By 8.30 am on October 18, with his condition deteriorating rapidly, Shariff was intubated for a mechanical ventilator. “However, by 12.30 pm, he died.”

The death has shocked and angered Shariff’s family, who described him as being in the prime of life. “He did not have any compromising secondary conditions. He did not have any health problems and had not been hospitalised in the recent past,” Ali said.

According to Abdul Khan, a friend of the family, Shariff was used to physical exertion. “He had the physique of a bodybuilder and bicycled about 5 km daily,” Khan added.

He wanted to go home

The family said that Shariff had called them twice in the hours before his death, complaining of poor care and asked to be taken out.

BMCRI, however, rejected the allegation.

High viral load?

To a question on a healthy person manifesting serious symptoms of the disease all of a sudden, Dr Smitha Segu, nodal officer for Covid-19 at BMCRI, said: “Perhaps his viral load was high or perhaps the disease created a cardiac condition.”

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(Published 18 October 2020, 20:17 IST)

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