Covid 19 symptoms are more diverse than initially thought

• As the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reports, the sale of Covid-19 disease can vary from person to person.
• Dry cough and fever are the most common symptoms of the disease, but they don’t have to occur in every patient.
• In addition, it is assumed that there are more and more infected people with previously unknown signs and without symptoms.

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So far, cough and fever are the most common symptoms of Covid-19. However, as the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reports, those affected and doctors cannot always rely on these signs. Because the disease is a so-called chameleon and varies in its expression.

If a disease is considered a chameleon, it cannot be linked to a specific appearance. There are various symptoms that can differ in their strength. Examples of this phenomenon are diseases such as syphilis or sarcoidosis.

Already at the beginning of the outbreak it was said that the most common signs of Covid-19 are dry cough and fever, but these can also have side effects. So both cold symptoms and other illnesses were not excluded from the outset as additional signs.

Fever and cough are not the only signs of Covid-19

Disillusionment soon followed. Although many doctors believed that fever and cough indicated coronavirus infection, it must now be admitted that this is not necessarily the case.

While it was initially assumed that the two symptoms occur in about 75 percent of those affected, it is now less than expected. According to RKI President Lothar Wieler, only 40 to 50 percent of those infected in Germany have a dry cough or fever.

As the specialist magazine “Swiss Medical Weekly” reports, the clinical picture is very variable, especially in older people. You may have symptoms that are not directly indicative of the condition, or they may show typical signs of the condition without actually having Covid-19. The case of an 83-year-old patient also shows that symptoms of the disease that have hitherto been unknown are becoming increasingly common.

He was admitted to the emergency room after a fall with chest pain. The result of the computed tomography finally showed that his lung had changed and that he had become infected with the coronavirus. He did not have a cough or fever.

More and more infected people without symptoms

However, unspecific signs do not only occur in older patients. In general, more and more cases are known in which the infected do not show any of the known symptoms, but still experience a severe course of the disease. More than ever, doctors face a huge challenge. Because the symptoms not only determine the tests, but also the isolation or quarantine measures.

Further individual case reports have also shown that several patients initially showed hardly any symptoms. Sometimes the patient complained of chest pain in the chest, shoulder girdle and neck area. These symptoms are also known as symptoms of atypical pneumonia among lung doctors.

The example of the Diamond Princess, the ship on which more than 700 people were infected with the corona virus, has also shown that there are more and more sick people without symptoms. Of all those infected, 18 percent had no signs at all – despite the fact that predominantly older people, for whom the course of the disease is usually more severe, were on board.

According to epidemiologist Gerardo Chowell from the University of Atlanta, that’s a big part. In his opinion, the age distribution on the ship should be taken into account. He believes that the number of infected people without symptoms in the general population could be much higher.

Doctors and those affected should pay attention to atypical course of the disease

According to Rishi Desai, a chief physician at Osmosis, people react differently to diseases because everyone has a unique immune system. He assumes that some people only get symptoms in certain areas of the body, while others affect the whole body.

The New England Journal of Medicine recently pointed out that more attention should be paid to atypical disease courses and symptoms. The reason is that the amount of virus in the upper respiratory tract hardly differs between those with symptoms and those without. Tracking the course of the disease would therefore contribute to better protection of the health of the population.

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