In a first, a report released by Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Tuesday, 29 June, recorded five cases of Cytomegalovirus (CVM)-related rectal bleeding in COVID-19 patients.
As per a group of senior doctors, the cases were detected amid the second wave of COVID in April and May.
The patients were not immunocompromised and experienced rectal bleeding and pain in the abdomen after 20 to 30 days of testing positive for the virus, IANS reported.
Chairman of the Institute of Liver Gastroenterology and Pancreaticobiliary Science Professor Anil Arora added that COVID and the drugs used for its treatment have an adverse effect on immunity, making patients susceptible to unusual infections with varied presentations, news agency PTI reported.
Out of the five patients, one succumbed owing to profuse bleeding and COVID-related chest infection while another needed emergency surgery.
"The other three patients were successfully treated with antiviral therapy with ganciclovir," Dr Arora added.
Dr Sunda Jain, senior consultant pathologist of the hospital, said that CVM was confirmed through "PCR testing for CMV virernia and tissue biopsy from the large intestine, which showed intranuclear inclusion bodies", PTI reported.
"This was further confirmed to be due to CMV infection by the specific immunohistochemistry stains," the doctor added.
According to Dr Praveen Sharma of the gastroenterology department, a high index of suspicion and timely intervention in the form of an early diagnosis and effective antiviral therapy can save many precious lives, IANS reported.
Dr Arora also informed that 80 to 90 percent of the Indian population suffers from asymptomatic CVM – as competent immune systems prevent it from displaying symptoms.
(With inputs from IANS and PTI)
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