Typhoid confusion delays Covid treatment, Bokaro deaths double in one month In Bokaro district, where the number of active cases is the fourth-highest in Jharkhand, there is an increasing confusion among residents between typhoid and Covid, which is often delaying timely treatment. Dharmananth Ravidas (55) is among 36 Covid patients at the Sadar Hospital in Bokaro, but it was only a week ago that the resident of Gomia block was initially diagnosed with typhoid and tested positive for the same following complaints of fever and chills.
But his oxygen saturation dipped within two days. Not everyone is as lucky. Forty kilometres away, in Peterwar block, Ram Swarup Aggarwal (57) was diagnosed with typhoid last month, but he was soon hospitalised in neighbouring Ramgarh as his condition deteriorated. He died on April 28 with the hospital mentioning the cause of death as Covid. typhoid test lacking “specificity and reliability”.
For instance, the mother of JMM’s Peterwar block organisation secretary Satyam Prasad was initially diagnosed with typhoid and was receiving treatment for the same, the leader said. “The doctor got her CT scan and warned that she may be going through Covid…her condition deteriorated. We rushed her to a local nursing home for emergency treatment, but health workers ran away. It was a nightmare.
Somehow a doctor friend put her on oxygen support, but she passed away.” It is hard to come to a number. Now we have shut our lab because Covid-19 cases have increased.”