People with Heart condition and diabetes should take extra care with threat of coronavirus

By,Dr Nimit Shah, Consultant Interventional cardiologist at Sir H N Reliance hospital

Corona virus has become a talk of the town. People are more reading and talking about the virus spreading all across the world. The threat is rising as the news of corona virus is rapidly spreading across the world from Asia, to Europe and the Middle East.

Patient with compromised heart function i.e. heart failure may be a higher risk of complications from corona virus a new strain of virus that first came out in china. There is no research till now, but it can be believed that elderly people, people with poor heart function, diabetes, kidney disease and lung diseases are at more risk and could be an important factor in causing patients to deteriorate, leading to a bad prognosis and death.

“People with heart and circulatory conditions – complications of diabetes should be extra vigilant as the threat of coronavirus increases as these patients have low immunity” Says Dr Nimit Shah, Interventional Cardiologist, Mumbai.

Symptoms of coronavirus include fever, a cough and can progress to shortness of breath.

Other key measures include:

· Always wash your hands when you get home or into work

· Use hand sanitizer gel if soap and water are not available

· Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze

· Put used tissues in the bin straight away and wash your hands afterwards

· Try to avoid close contact with people who are unwell