Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Disease control expert shocked to catch Covid
ABATH disease control expert has caught Covid-19 and has been left feeling “very unwell”. Dr Bharat Pankhania, a former consultant in communicable disease control, with more than 20 years of experience in infectious diseases, tested positive for the virus on Monday.
He said he initally felt “very unwell” but was now feeling much brighter.
Dr Pankhania, a councillor for Combe Down, caught the infection after his son also came down with it.
He has had a high profile in the West during the pandemic, regularly appearing on television and radio.
He said: “I feel much better. It was scary stuff to realise I had it after being so very careful.
“It was inevitable, though, that when schools went back that children are going to infect each other.
“My son told me that he had lost his sense of taste and smell and I thought immediately that it was a common sign of coronavirus.
“So we each went to get PCR tests done.
“His first one came back negative, but I was not convinced, so we did a second PCR test, with me looking over to check a proper sample amount had been taken, and it came back positive.
“At that time, we were all negative, but 10 days later, right at the end of the incubation period, I tested positive.”
Dr Pankhania said his first symptoms were the classic signs of a Covid infection.
He said: “I had a runny nose, a headache, a sore throat and a slight cough.
“I am feeling extremely grateful that I have had both doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is clearly doing its job of stopping a very bad reaction to an infection.”
Dr Pankhania is isolating at his home in Bath from his other family members, including his wife and daughter, who have not yet tested positive.
He said: “My cautionary message would be, we can all get infected, even myself, who has been extremely cautious. It’s really important to have the maximum protection and to get immunised.”