Am I more at risk of Corona virus?

[nibo]

Am I considered high risk for Corona virus if I have Hashimoto’s. I work for the NHS and they have asked if I should be self isolating. I have no idea if I am at more risk. I am 56 with no other health problems.

[greygoose]

If you work for the NHS, shouldn't they be telling you?

[Marz]

Scroll down to RELATED POSTS where you will find 10 similar posts. Also an Announcement from TUK on PINNED POSTS further down again 🤧🤔🤭

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Marz]

I've now copied a few into some text I can paste.

Do bear in mind that even within minutes some of what looks like good information gets totally changed round.

Corona Virus on this forum

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Vitamin C and Corona virus

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Corona Virus and Thyroid disease, is testing for fever adequate?

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Corona virus, and being Hypothyroid

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Health experts criticise NHS advice to take ibuprofen for Covid-19

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Are those of us with hypothyroidism (Hashimoto’s) at heightened risk of Covid-19

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Marz in reply to helvella]

Thank you !

[RedApple Administrator]

nibo, I don't think anyone can give a definitive answer to this, because not enough is yet known or understood about it. But, the BTF and Thyroid UK have both made statements that suggest no, we are not more at risk simply because of autoimmune thyroid disease.

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

btf-thyroid.org/news/thyroi...

[Lora7again]

I think you might need to if you are in contact with a lot of patients. A lot of NHS staff are in contact with people who might have the virus. Sorry if I am being a bit alarmist but this is what I think.

[LMor]

I have Hashimoto’s too and am very concerned. I also have Svt which I had an ablation for last year. I still get weird heartbeats and fast rhythms. I’m in contact with the public every day (I work in a very busy city). At present I have a sore throat, had a horrendous migraine for days (which is a lot better today) Body aches everywhere (but that’s normal for us), was coughing yesterday, but only a little today, I keep going hot and cold (but no temperature) and today my chest feels like I’ve smoked 100 cigarettes (I don’t smoke). So it’s a little worrying and like you I have no idea what to do. If you work for the nhs and you are showing any type of symptoms, personally I think you should self isolate but only you know how you feel. Good luck

[Petalrugbaba in reply to LMor]

I think you should definitely self isolate. Hope you feel better soon.

[sy28]

Self isolate ...

[Howard39]

I have to disagree and go with the guidelines.

You are no more at risk than someone who does not have Hashimotos.

Only you know how well you are and how you usually cope with infections.

If it was v poorly I’d take a different view.

Go with what feels right for you x

[cabro2]

No.

[RockyPath]

If you have blood type A you’re more at risk according to an analysis of Chinese patients,

“blood group A had a significantly higher risk for COVID-19 when compared with non-A blood groups. Those in the O group, meanwhile, "had a significantly lower risk for the infectious disease."

The difference could be explained by certain antibodies in the blood, but this will need to be investigated in future studies in order to be confirmed, they said.”

newsweek.com/blood-type-cor...

[Lora7again in reply to RockyPath]

I have never heard of this but I have heard that China has said it has had no new local infections so hopefully things will now start to improve for them.

[LMor in reply to RockyPath]

That’s very interesting 🧐

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to RockyPath]

This appears to be the actual paper on which the article is based.

Please be very aware that this is in pre-publication status and has NOT been peer-reviewed.

This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed [what does this mean? medrxiv.org/content/what-un... ]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.

It seems to me better to have this visible than rely on journalistic interpretations.

Relationship between the ABO Blood Group and the COVID-19 Susceptibility

Jiao Zhao, Yan Yang, Han-Ping Huang, Dong Li, Dong-Feng Gu, Xiang-Feng Lu, Zheng Zhang, Lei Liu, Ting Liu, Yu-Kun Liu, Yun-Jiao He, Bin Sun, Mei-Lan Wei, Guang-Yu Yang, View ORCID ProfileXinghuan Wang, Li Zhang, Xiao-Yang Zhou, Ming-Zhao Xing, View ORCID ProfilePeng George Wang

doi: doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.11....

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between the ABO blood group and the COVID-19 susceptibility. DESIGN The study was conducted by comparing the blood group distribution in 2,173 patients with COVID-19 confirmed by SARS-CoV-2 test from three hospitals in Wuhan and Shenzhen, China with that in normal people from the corresponding regions. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and 2-tailed χ2 and a meta-analysis was performed by random effects models. SETTING Three tertiary hospitals in Wuhan and Shenzhen, China. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1,775 patients with COVID-19, including 206 dead cases, from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Wuhan, China were recruited. Another 113 and 285 patients with COVID-19 were respectively recruited from Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan and Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Detection of ABO blood groups, infection occurrence of SARS-CoV-2, and patient death RESULTS The ABO group in 3694 normal people in Wuhan showed a distribution of 32.16%, 24.90%, 9.10% and 33.84% for A, B, AB and O, respectively, versus the distribution of 37.75%, 26.42%, 10.03% and 25.80% for A, B, AB and O, respectively, in 1775 COVID-19 patients from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital. The proportion of blood group A and O in COVID-19 patients were significantly higher and lower, respectively, than that in normal people (both P < 0.001). Similar ABO distribution pattern was observed in 398 patients from another two hospitals in Wuhan and Shenzhen. Meta-analyses on the pooled data showed that blood group A had a significantly higher risk for COVID-19 (odds ratio-OR, 1.20; 95% confidence interval-CI 1.02~1.43, P = 0.02) compared with non-A blood groups, whereas blood group O had a significantly lower risk for the infectious disease (OR, 0.67; 95% CI 0.60~0.75, P < 0.001) compared with non-O blood groups.In addition, the influence of age and gender on the ABO blood group distribution in patients with COVID-19 from two Wuhan hospitals (1,888 patients) were analyzed and found that age and gender do not have much effect on the distribution. CONCLUSION People with blood group A have a significantly higher risk for acquiring COVID-19 compared with non-A blood groups, whereas blood group O has a significantly lower risk for the infection compared with non-O blood groups.

medrxiv.org/content/10.1101...

[Swannybird]

I was thinking this too, Hashi makes your body attacks itself, it can't tell the difference between what's normal and what's the enemy so based on that I was thinking this virus infects then goes for the lungs wouldn't it be more risky for us as our immune system would be on full attack but of healthy lung tissue. I'm not a doctor and that is just my thoughts on it, I do hope I am wrong.

[Hidden]

Surely someone in the NHS could answer your question for you.

[HashiFedUp]

My dad has been researching on this subject. He says that having Hashimoto’s disease doesn’t make me more likely to catch the virus. But it might increase the complications I suffer if I do get it. This is because when we get this virus our immune systems are overactive and start destroying healthy cells. This causes organs to shut down. His view is that I should be self isolating.

If you’re over 60 and have a thyroid condition or similar you are definitely At Risk and should self isolate.

[Realtiger]

I can’t find any evidence to suggest that anyone with Hashimotos is at higher risk but government guidelines differ from advice offered by the British Thyroid Foundation. They suggest people who are offered the free flu jab should be classed as vulnerable and self-isolate.

Ironically I find myself in a real bind with work who have instructed those of us who receive the free flu vaccine to notify our line managers that we will be self-isolating for 12 weeks. My surgery has offered me the vaccine ever since I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia but it’s a postcode lottery and it might not have been be offered to me if I lived somewhere else. So it’s an arbitrary measure of how at risk I/we might really be.

So, playing by the rules, I should self-isolate but I live on my own and am already working from home - can hardly face the prospect of not stepping out of my front door for the next 3 months 😢

On the other hand, Liam Gallagher is on Twitter telling everyone he’s self-isolating because he’s got Hashimoto’s...🙂

[Treepie in reply to Realtiger]

No need to stay inside ,go for a walk or bike but keep your distance from others

[Realtiger in reply to Treepie]

My thoughts exactly. Springtime is too pretty to miss...

[RedApple Administrator in reply to Realtiger]

Realtiger, They suggest people who are offered the free flu jab should be classed as vulnerable and self-isolate.

Just for clarification, people (in the UK) are not routinely offered the flu jab just because they have autoimmune thyroid disease. To be offered the flu jab, you would have some other qualifying health condition/s or be over 65 years old.

Liam Gallagher is on Twitter telling everyone he’s self-isolating because he’s got Hashimoto’s

Well, that's his personal choice, but it does not mean the rest of us have to do the same. Celebs are not health experts and can be prone to extreme behaviour

[Realtiger in reply to RedApple]

Re flu jabs - I understand. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. My point was that I'm offered the flu jab because I have fibromyalgia but this not routine for everyone with a FM diagnosis - it can depend on where you live. Therefore whether or not you are offered the flu jab in this scenario is a poor measure of clinical risk.

I now find myself in the weird position of having to tell work I'm self-isolating because I'm offered the flu jab when, clinically speaking (haven't found any evidence to suggest either FM or Hashis increases vulnerability), I'm probably at no greater risk than the general population.

I completely agree re Liam Gallagher - I mentioned it as I found it amusing that he is not echoing expert opinion and many here know better - I wasn't suggesting we follow suit!

[JCMK]

As far as my employer is concerned if you’re not on the NHS list you don’t work from home. I work for a Local Authority but work in a health setting. We work in the community, go into care homes, people’s houses, hygiene is sometimes poor. We are essential only visits. Some of our care homes are now reporting confirmed cases and going on lockdown. Our Trust isn’t even issuing hand sanitiser for when we do have to go out on visits! The trust management has not asked me if I should be in.

Half of my team and half our other team are either self isolating or working from home from today. My chronic health condition isn’t on the list so I have to go into work. At least I might get to catch up on paperwork 🙂 Unfortunately, I get a cough and cold every winter (still have it now), also suffer from hay fever and I think that’s starting up now so I don’t even think I would know if I acquired the virus unless I got a very high temperature. Have a blood test in 3 weeks to see if I am still pre diabetic or if I’ve tipped over into diabetic status.

Whatever you end up doing, look after yourself. Same to everyone else xx

[Moonglo]

This lists the underlying health conditions:

gov.uk/government/publicati...

[Babette]

I asked at my endo appointment a couple of weeks ago and she said the risks are no different to someone without Hashis.

[Merlio18]

Hi I asked the same question the other day it's debatable many experts professors from infectious disease backgrounds have said we are at high risk which is what I agree with as even tho we may not be any less likely to catch it if we did we would probably have complications which healthy individuals wouldn't but the gov.uk website and British thyroid association are not helping the situation and protecting people with all immune disorders as they have only said those with weakened immune systems such as HIV or AIDS.

I rang my gp three times and spoke to 3 different receptionists all checked my records and said yes I have flagged up to have a free flu jab only last year never before as I was also referred to rheumatologist as have fibromyalgia diagnosis aswell as HASHIMOTO'S but then I rang bk to check as fibro ain't on there but I was also being ruled out for rhumetoid arthritis but no diagnosis and I am not on any meds to suppress the immune system which could of flagged me up for a free flu jab and the practice manager was very flippant and didn't even look at my records and said No your not if you don't have any conditions on the gov UK list even if you have been txted to say you need a free flu jab??!

So I had to tell work I wasn't as HR had to document it if so so you can't just self isolate unless your employer is sympathetic and agrees to it where is mine aren't as I have a supervisor who has thyroid issues and is oblivious to her own actual condition and her attitude was "well we not in the high risk category BTA and gov.uk say so your not and can't self isolate and I said well you at even higher risk as you also have asthma and she said well I have more chance of catching and dying off the flu!!! So I have no chance of sympathy???!!

So I hope they are sympathic as to me it's a no brainer any one who has underlying long term chronic health conditions which are auto immune should be allowed to self Isolate to protect our selves but unfortunately you can't unless you come under the listed conditions even when I had been txted to have a flu jab she said No I wasn't in the category so there is alot of mixed information.

It would be interesting to see if anyone else has had any different experiences with there doctors and employers???

This article is interesting but it is not what the BTA or gov are saying but it would make sense to include our selves in the vulnerable catagory but we can't unless our employer agrees and is sympathetic.

google.com/amp/s/www.expres...

I would love to know what your manager says at the NHS !! Also have you rang your gp?

acas.org.uk/coronavirus

Just found a link to Liam Gallagher tweets !!! If he can self isolate why can't our employers be understanding and let us self isolate if we can't work from home !?!

metro.co.uk/2020/03/19/liam...

[RedApple Administrator in reply to Merlio18]

Merlio18, Just found a link to Liam Gallagher tweets !!! If he can self isolate why can't our employers be understanding and let us self isolate if we can't work from home !?!

I suspect your employer does not have a bottomless money pit (unlike Liam Gallagher who I suspect is extremely well off), to pay everyone whilst they self isolate for no validated reason. If you're really not wanting to go to work on site, perhaps your employer would consider letting you take unpaid leave.

[Treepie]

Seems like your supervisor is ,like many others, in denial.

[mandyjane]

Nibo. I think rather than whether you tick a box as to whether you have a particular condition that officially makes you vunerable, you need to think about your health generally. If your thyroid treatment is good, you are energetic on no other medications than your hormones then I would think you are no more vunerable than other fit and well people. If you are symptomatic of thyroid disease then probably you need to be extra careful. I think your levels of nutrician important, people with thyroid disease often lack essential minerals and vitamins such as vitamin d, folate, ferretin, B12 and low levels of these will leave you a bit more vunerable. It is probably worth you taking some vitamin D in particular as this is known to help prevent infections.