Abstract Body

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

37-year-old man with no significant past medical history presented with fever, coughing, sore throat, headache and asthenia. The symptoms were compatible with a SARS-CoV-2 infection that was later confirmed, showing a good clinical evolution for the next 14 days. However, 2 weeks later he started feeling pleuritic pain, dyspnoea on mild exertion and dizziness, not presenting any significant findings from additional testing in Primary Care. The symptoms persisted after 2 months so he was referred to Internal Medicine to rule out long-term pulmonary consequences of COVID-19.

METHODS:

- Physical examination with no interest except orthostatism.

- Chest radiograph with reticulo-nodular interstitial pattern in the right middle lobe.

- ECG: Sinus bradycardia at 55bpm.

- Negative PCR nasopharyngeal swab one month after the first positive one.

- Laboratory testing was normal

- No findings in ambulatory Holter monitor or spirometry.

- Thoracic CT scan showed signs of pneumonitis (ground glass opacities) in right upper and middle lobe.

RESULTS: The patient was diagnosed with Post-COVID Syndrome

CONCLUSIONS:

There is growing evidence of signs and symptoms that can affect patients after an acute COVID-19 infection, although we don’t know how permanent they are. The main points of our case are firstly, the patient’s profile: young and with no previous medical history. Secondly, patients with “Long COVID” often don’t show any abnormalities in multiple tests, but in this case there is a clear one. Lastly, the persistence of severe symptoms after 3 months does not always correlate with the severity of the initial episode