Indian woman with rare disease treated by Chinese doctors

A patient from India who was recently received at Shanghai Renij Hospital and obtained medical treatment there after doctors identified her rare disease recovered and was discharged in mid-April, the hospital said on Friday.

The 30-year-old Indian woman, who preferred to use the alias Nik, was relocated to Shanghai in the latter half of last year. After catching a flu several months ago, she suffered from a series of health threats: viral infection, high fever, nausea and vomiting, pneumonia in both lungs, heart failure, and explosive inflammatory indicators.

Medical treatment at other hospitals went in vein, and she turned to ask help from the rheumatology department of Renji Hospital Affiliated with Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in late March.

By linking together several key words in her disease history, which include post-flu, intense inflammatory response, coagulation disorders, significant gastrointestinal symptoms, and acute cardiac insufficiency, the medical team suspected that she was suffering from a brand-new disease: multisystem inflammatory syndrome. The disease was first reported in children suffering from COVID-19 in 2021.

As Nik’s condition was fairly similar with those reported related to the new disease, after careful analysis and discussions, the medical team treated her with cytokine-targeted therapy and infection prevention on the basis of organ function monitoring and support.

The woman’s health condition significantly improved after four days, and all her physical indicators gradually got better after a few more days.

Shanghai is home to the country’s largest expat community and attracts the highest number of inbound travelers. The city’s efforts to boost medical services for foreigners have accelerated in recent years.

In September, Shanghai released a work plan for a pilot program for international medical tourism in its public hospitals. Thirteen hospitals with outstanding innovation and technical capacity, as well as experience in treating international patients, were identified to join the program. Renji Hospital was one of them.