A Covid-19 briefing at the Department of Health has heard how a young doctor had two major systems failures from contracting the virus.
23-year-old Dr Owen O'Flynn, who works at University Hospital Kerry, told the briefing that he had acute respiratory failure and acute heart failure.
He has appealed for people who think they are immune from the severe effects of the virus to think twice and to follow the public health advice.
He said that his initial symptoms were a loss of smell and taste, but he did not qualify for a Covid-19 test at the time as his symptoms were not in the case definition.
Further symptoms followed including stomach pain, temperature spikes, profuse sweating, constant vomiting and diarrhoea as well as a rash on various parts of his body.
Dr O'Flynn said that he was tested in the community and the swab was negative.
"This got to a point where I needed hospital admission for what I thought was a severe gastroenteritis," he said.
"I was admitted on the covid pathway in CUH and got another swab which was again negative as I wasn't actively shedding virus at that time."
'No one is indestructible' warns doctor battling post-Covid syndrome
Dr O'Flynn said that his heart tracing was showing signs of damage, as were his heart enzymes. He said that two days later, his oxygen levels dropped and an X-ray found a new lesion.
"I was informed of a new post-covid syndrome starting to be reported in Italy - typically seen in children. So, I was re-swabbed, the results of which showed I had had a Covid-19 infection around 4-6 weeks prior."
Dr O'Flynn said that his condition then deteriorated rapidly.
"My oxygen levels reduced and in the space of a minute I was unable to finish a sentence. On the basis of how quickly I was deteriorating I was admitted to ICU."
He spent a week in ICU and during that time, he suffered heart and lung failure. His heart was functioning at less than one third of its normal work rate.
"At that point I started to wonder would I ever get out of ICU, would I die in there?
"Thankfully everything slowly started to resolve. I was discharged to the ward from ICU and a week later I was discharged home.
Dr O'Flynn says that it about six weeks following his discharge from hospital to regain a sense of normality again.
Dr Owen O'Flynn, who was treated in ICU because of Covid-19, has appealed for people who think they are immune from the severe effects of the virus to think twice and to follow public health advice | https://t.co/a49FxmgeY9 pic.twitter.com/SH2Z9lyZM5
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 12, 2020
"As to why I'm sharing my story, while the elderly are most at risk from Covid-19, this virus can still have devastating effects on people of any age and there is no real way to tell who will deteriorate and who will get through it without severe symptoms.
"I am a 23-year-old, who maintained a high level of fitness and I ended up in ICU due to Covid-19.
"I would urge anyone thinking that they are immune to the more severe effects of this disease to think twice and to follow the public health advice."
The briefing heard that 825 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed, as well as one virus-related death.
There have now been a total of 43,531 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland and 1,827 virus-related deaths.
