Vietnam spends over US$128,000 treating British pilot whose lungs failed after contracting coronavirus
- The 43-year-old Vietnam Airlines pilot is now free of Covid-19 but is in urgent need of a lung transplant. Authorities are considering repatriating him
- Vietnam has not reported any coronavirus deaths, and while cases remain low at 324, imported cases are expected with citizens returning from overseas
Patient 91, who tested positive for coronavirus in mid-March, spent 47 days on life support and last week only had 10 per cent of his lung capacity.
However, the health ministry last week said the man would not survive without a lung transplant, and given he needed two, the donation could only come from a brain-dead patient.
This effectively ruled out some 50 people who had volunteered to donate part of their lungs to the patient.
The British man’s immune system had overreacted after being attacked by the virus, which led to him suffering a bleeding disorder and cytokine storm syndrome, a condition when too many cytokines, or small proteins, are released, damaging the organs.
According to a recent paper published by Chinese researchers in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, mild or severe cytokine storms were observed in many patients who had severe Covid-19, eventually leading to their deaths.