Lithuania's health officials reported on Thursday that a 27-year-old man died of Covid-19, becoming the youngest victim of the pandemic in the country. His doctors say he had been completely healthy before coming down with the infection and tested negative for Covid-19 even as symptoms were getting worse.
The man was from Marijampolė, in western Lithuania, and was treated for over a month in Kaunas Clinics, said the hospital's intensive care unit chief Vidas Pilvinis.
“The patient fell ill on November 1, he exhibited typical influenza infection symptoms,” Pilvinis told reporters on Thursday. “The patient was young, didn't have any concomitant pathologies, was physically active, had hobbies – just like the rest of us.”
According to him, the patient suffered from Covid-19 pneumonitis and pronounced respiratory failure.
The man initially came down with fever and general weakness, Pilvinis recounted. He reported the symptoms and was tested for the coronavirus, but the result was negative. However, his doctors still suspected he had Covid-19, especially as his family members had been diagnosed with the infection.
The man was tested again two weeks later. His symptoms had gotten much worse, particularly breathing difficulties, so he was immediately taken to Kaunas to be hospitalised.
When he was admitted to Kaunas Clinics, he was suffering from respiratory failure and was not responding to ordinary treatment, Pilvinis said. He was therefore put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, meaning his breathing had to be supported by machines.
He was under intense care all the time until Wednesday, according to Pilvinis, but his condition was only deteriorating.
“All actions we took to save the patient's life were, unfortunately, unsuccessful,” he said.
The man's family members have recovered from Covid-19, he added.
Since the start of the pandemic, Kaunas Clinics treated 113 patients in intensive care, Pilvinis said. Most of them were aged between 54 and 64.
“Medics have repeatedly said no one is immune, they have spoken about cases of people in their 20s with severe symptoms, even 16-year-old kids,” Lithuania's acting Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga commented on Thursday. “Such cases are rare [...] but they exist.”
Read more: Man in mid-20 dies of Covid-19 in Lithuania, youngest victim of pandemic
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