Lung cancer v covid 19

Hi Janice  and welcome to the Community.

Yes, this is all very confusing and I would always recommend talking with your team (if you can) as every cancer case is individual and the following information may well be out of date.

This Information from the government is all encompassing and is a good guide what to look out for and what you should or should not do and Macmillan have also provided some information and answered some key questions around cancer and coronavirus (COVID-19).

You will see from the information that having a lung problem puts you a ‘high at risk Group’

This is also on the Government information "If you're at high risk, you will be contacted by the NHS by Sunday 29 March 2020. Do not contact your GP or healthcare team at this stage – wait to be contacted."

I was diagnosed in 1999 with a rare type of Skin NHL. I am now over 4 1/2 years post my last treatment and 3 1/2 years in remission

The advise for me from my team based on me being a blood cancer patient who has a reduced immune system "...... you are basically back into a three+ months isolation controlling everyone I come in contract with and where and what I do.

She also said ” we don't know how you would react to this virus - let’s be safe and not sorry”

Talking with people who are on the same journey can help a lot so can I highlight our very supportive Lung Cancer Group

Posting in this group will open up your concerns to a wider group of people who know exactly what you are going through at the moment.

Follow the link I've created, join the group then introduce yourself to the group and post questions after selecting 'start a discussion' and you can also join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.

This may not be much help for you - sorry..... but this virus can not be underestimated.

((Hugs)) from a distance.

Janice,

A referred this to Macmillan's "Ask an Expert" in early March and received the response below. I posted this in the lung cancer community at the time, if you look back you'll find my post.

My concern arose because I had my right lung removed in 2014.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions it might be useful to ask them.

I hope you dodge the virus!

All the best.

Hi excavator Thanks for getting in touch.

I appreciate your concern about your potential extra risk of pneumonia and complications of the Covid 19 virus.

As Covid 19 is such a new virus, there is limited information about how it behaves and who exactly is at more risk. From the limited data collected from China so far it seems that age appears one of the biggest risk factors. In the small number collected there were more cancer patients than the ratio seen in the population of China. This was their conclusion:

Of these 16 patients (two of the 18 patients had unknown treatment status), only four had undergone surgery or chemotherapy within the previous month; 12 had recovered from initial cancer treatments (eg, surgery or chemotherapy) and had no obvious immunosuppression. We therefore do not think the COVID-19 infections in the 12 survivors of previous cancers were associated with their cancers. COVID-19 is a highly contagious infection to which everyone, to our knowledge, is susceptible; the most important morbidity factor is exposure to an infection source.

Furthermore, although the authors indicate that patients with cancer had worse outcomes from COVID-19, they also reported the median age of these patients (63·1 years) to be significantly higher than for those without cancer (48·7 years), suggesting that older age is associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes.

However, were you to develop a pneumonia, having one lung may put you at more risk of more severe complications. It is very important, therefore, that you follow the guidelines for preventing your risk of catching Covid 19 and seek medical attention quickly if you develop symptoms. There is information on the NHS website and from Public Health England on the GOV.UK website. This is a rapidly evolving situation and the websites are updated every day and the Department of Health and Social Care publishes daily figures on testing at 2.00pm every day.

If you are concerned about symptoms do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Call 111 if you need to speak to someone. You also can use the 111 coronavirus service online about what to do if you think you have symptoms :

● a cough

● a high temperature

● shortness of breath

● or you think you have been exposed to the virus either by travelling or exposure to a person with confirmed coronavirus.

The pneumonia inoculation prevents against pneumococcal infections caused by the bacterium Streptococcal pneumoniae not Covid 19. Unfortunately, there is no vaccine yet for Covid 19 although scientists are trying to do this urgently.

I hope this information is helpful and please get back in touch if you need to.