Due to the spread of the new coronavirus, university hospitals in Tokyo are almost full.

Most of the patients are elderly, and the corona infection weakens their ability to swallow, causing "erroneous pneumonia" and worsening one after another. In some cases, he cannot recover his strength and die. "

Characteristics of the 6th wave of "erroneous pneumonia"

At Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, as of the 25th, 12 severe beds and 49 moderate beds are almost full.



Most of the patients are elderly, and the images taken by the hospital show CT images of the lungs of the elderly patients who were hospitalized this month, and if you take a closer look at where the shadows showing inflammation are, it is characteristic of the new corona. There was no shadow of slick glassy pneumonia, and a shadow of pneumonia was seen near the airways.



This means that the corona infection seems to have weakened the ability to swallow, causing "erroneous pneumonia" and exacerbating it.



It has been thought that the Omicron strain is less likely to cause more severe pneumonia than the Delta strain, but in this hospital, many elderly patients have such "erroneous pneumonia".

Dr. Tomoko Sakai points out, "The fever and malaise caused by the corona weaken the ability to swallow, and the symptoms are worsening. It can be said that this is a characteristic of the sixth wave, which has many elderly patients."



Even after the recovery of corona, these elderly patients do not recover their ability to swallow and weaken, and in some cases they die, so the hospital is focusing on rehabilitation.



The footage taken by the hospital showed the rehabilitation staff checking the swallowing ability of elderly patients.



Dr. Sakai said, "Many people who have eaten by mouth cannot return to their original lives due to the infection. The treatment at the hospital is prolonged, and the swallowing function does not return, resulting in death. There are many people, so I think rehabilitation is very important to restore the function. "

Focus on rehabilitation to recover the ability to swallow

Elderly patients infected with the new coronavirus often suffer from "erroneous pneumonia" due to weakened ability to swallow, and Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital is rehabilitating to restore the ability to swallow with corona treatment. I am working hard.



The footage taken by the hospital records the state of rehabilitation.



Of these, a man in his 80s with moderate illness received rehabilitation to restore his ability to swallow from the 15th of this month after accidentally getting fluid from the trachea into his lungs, causing mild "erroneous pneumonia". I was there.



On this day, the rehabilitation staff and doctor were checking the patient's swallowing ability, and had the tongue move to the right and left, and the cheeks were inflated and dented to watch the movement of the mouth. ..



Then, I dripped thickened water into my mouth and checked how it was swallowed.



The man continued to rehabilitate after that, and on the 25th, 10 days later, he recovered to the point where he could eat porridge, etc., and the person in charge of rehabilitation judged that the ability to swallow was not a problem.



Meanwhile, a woman in her 90s responded to a staff call on the 15th of this month that she "has a pain," but she couldn't eat from her mouth a week later. I was getting nourishment from my nose.



She couldn't ask her to swallow the fluid and she couldn't drink water after the rehab staff checked if her tongue could be pulled out or retracted.



Dr. Sakai, who was involved in the rehabilitation, said, "It is necessary to reach the original function through rehabilitation as much as possible. On the other hand, the corona infection has severely reduced the ability that was originally possessed, and there is enough capacity to restore the function. In some cases, I want to continue rehabilitation as much as possible. "