Project Ask the Doctor of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation: How Allergies and Coronavirus are Related

The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation’s project Ask the Doctor continues to inform Ukrainians about the treatment of COVID-19. Healthcare experts report about the situation related to the spread of the disease, as well as give their recommendations and answer questions from the audience. More than 11 million people have watched the project on the Foundation’s digital platforms. This time, the project’s expert was Yuriy Bisyuk, a Doctor of Medical Sciences, a professor of the Department of Dermatovenereology, Allergology, Clinical and Laboratory Immunology of Shupyk National Healthcare University of Ukraine.

According to the expert, now in case of any symptoms first of all you need to think about the coronavirus and need to contact the relevant doctor immediately. About 10%-20% of COVID-19 cases manifest themselves precisely as allergic reactions.

‘A patient may not feel anything, but just has some skin rashes and no other symptoms. The coronavirus has many masks, and we still do not know the consequences, given the fact that the virus keeps mutating,’ said Yuriy Bisyuk.

He also explained why you should not be afraid of the coronavirus vaccination.

‘A huge number of absolutely healthy patients come to an appointment with me asking one question: can I be vaccinated? As a rule, in 99% of cases there are no contraindications to vaccination. That is, bronchial asthma, allergic diseases, food or drug allergies are not contraindications to vaccination.’

The professor drew the audience’s attention to the fact that if during the first vaccination the patient had an allergic reaction, then the second dose must be administered in the presence of an allergologist.

‘There are special techniques to prevent the development of such reactions. These are isolated, one-off instances, but they do occur. However, this does not mean that allergy sufferers should avoid vaccination. At the same time, there are no restrictions to taking medications,’ explained Yuriy Bisyuk.
He added that the body of a healthy person can indeed have a negative response to vaccination in the form of an allergic reaction.

‘This reaction can occur after vaccination. In a mild form, it manifests itself in the form of hives, and it disappears after a few hours. In a severe form, the doctors inject drugs that address this condition in a patient. That is why, during up to half an hour after vaccination, such a patient should be under the supervision of a doctor,’ the expert emphasized.

Yuriy Bisyuk noted that now Ukrainian doctors increasingly frequently deal with patients having post-COVID syndrome. It is extremely important to work with such people now.

‘We are actively providing treatment to such patients. These are various complications: not only lung diseases, but also problems with the nervous system, depression. Ukraine has sanatoriums for the rehabilitation after lung diseases where the zones of lung damage are studied. However, this is not a fast process,’ the expert emphasized.

The project Ask the Doctor is a weekly online meeting with doctors who talk about the symptoms of the coronavirus, dietary preferences for patients, the latest global trends in the treatment of COVID-19, and many other topics. Earlier, questions from the audience during live broadcasts of the project were answered by such leading healthcare experts as Kateryna Amosova, a cardiologist, an associate member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, a member of the European Society of Cardiology; Yevhen Komarovskyi, a famous paediatrician of the country; Serhiy Komisarenko, a biochemist and researcher; Oleksandr Zaika, an immunologist of the Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health; Oleh Chaban, a psychiatrist, a Doctor of Medical Sciences, a professor; Serhiy Dubrov, the President of the Association of Anaesthesiologists of Ukraine, and other experts.

You can watch the recordings of previous broadcasts on the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation’s Facebook page, as well as on YouTube.