A news item in the Independent: A nurse who worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic has been diagnosed with terminal cancer — after mistaking a persistent cough for a symptom of long Covid.
Victoria Puar, 46, says she caught the virus during a camping trip with her family in August 2021 and suffered with a horrible cough for months afterwards.
Believing the cough to be the result of long Covid, Victoria was finally sent for tests earlier this year – which ultimately showed she was living with stage four lung cancer.
The MEA Comments
Dr Charles Shepherd, MEA Medical Adviser, comments:
This is a very distressing story which illustrates why doctors should always take a detailed clinical history, carry out a physical examination and arrange for appropriate investigations before a diagnosis of Long Covid is made and continued with.
Sadly, this is not the first case where a malignancy has been misdiagnosed as Long Covid. See BBC News and Metro articles below:
I lost my daughter to cancer after she was misdiagnosed with long Covid
We already know about people who have been misdiagnosed as having ME/CFS when they do in fact have another medical condition with overlapping symptoms to ME/CFS.
So there are important lessons to be learnt here by doctors who are involved in diagnosing Long Covid, and by people who are living with a diagnosis of Long Covid, especially when new symptoms appear.
The MEA guide to Long Covid and the overlaps with ME/CFS also covers the misdiagnosis of Long Covid.
Dr Charles Shepherd,
Trustee and Hon. Medical Adviser to the ME Association.
Member of the 2018-2021 NICE Guideline Committee.
Member of the 2002 Independent Working Group on ME/CFS.
