TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Pulmonologist RSUP Friendship dr. Andika Chandra Putra called Covid-19 a thousand faces disease because the symptoms resemble many other diseases.
“Frankly, this is confusing. We as clinicians, as doctors, this is confusing,” said Andika in Jakarta, Friday, October 9, 2020.
Symptoms found in Covid-19 patients are not only colds, shortness of breath and pneumonia, but also symptoms of other diseases such as diarrhea, vomiting, numbness, hiccups, skin rashes and red eyes. Some patients even experience stroke-like symptoms and lose consciousness due to brain disorders.
According to the pulmonologist, these symptoms arise because of the receptors Covid-19 not only in the respiratory tract, but also the digestive tract, eye ducts, ducts in the skin to the brain. As a result, symptoms arise in the ducts where the SARS-CoV-2 virus enters the host cell through the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE) receptor.
“We cannot differentiate between diarrhea due to bacterial infection or fungal infection or because of Covid-19. We cannot distinguish it clinically,” said Andika.
The doctor of Pers Friendship Hospital, which is the Covid-19 referral hospital in Jakarta, suggested immediate examination, either through rapid tests to swabs or PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests. This examination is also to avoid the possibility of the spread of Covid-19 spreading.
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Immediate screening may also be necessary to reduce the greater health impact on infected patients. “Imagine it like a fire. If the fire is a little bit, it will be easier for us to extinguish. But if it’s a big fire, of course it’s a bit difficult for us to extinguish it. So the point is that testing is the most important. Then we do tracing, then we do treatment,” he said. pulmonologist Friendship Hospital.
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