Post Covid-19 Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Future Challenge

Correspondence: Dr. Faiza Zafar Sayeed Department of Medicine, Civil Hospital Karachi Email: faiza.sayeed@hotmail.com Date of Submission: 24 October 2021 Date of Acceptance: 9 December 2021 We are facing a pandemic. It has been almost two years since the coronavirus disease erupted in Wuhan, China and took the whole world in its grasp due to its highly transmissible nature. It is spread from human-to-human through respiratory droplets. It has varied presentation ranging from asymptomatic carriers to covid pneumonia having high morbidity and mortality. It was also seen to be asymptomatic but transmissible in some individuals. Hand washing, social distancing and disinfecting touched surfaces readily were sufficiently effective in putting a stop to the chain of transmission. Covid-19 presents with fever, body aches, cough, and extreme lethargy which may resolve within a week, but certain patients develop moderate to severe presentation of the disease. Moderate spectrum of the disease has involvement of the lower respiratory tract on imaging with clinical symptomatology and an SpO 2 94% at room air while patients with severe disease have either an SpO 2 < 94% on room air, SpO 2 /FiO 2 ratio < 300mmHg, respiratory rate >30bpm or imaging evidence of greater than 50% lung infiltrates.