New research reveals the most common pattern of symptoms of COVID-19, which can be extremely important come fall and winter as flu season begins to peak.
LOS ANGELES – COVID-19 patients may have symptoms very similar to other viral diseases. This makes it difficult to know when to seek medical attention. It also poses a diagnostic challenge for physicians. As cold and flu season approaches, it is even more important to distinguish COVID-19 from other respiratory diseases. A new study by scientists at the University of Southern California provides valuable guidance when it comes to the onset of coronavirus symptoms.
The study, published in Frontiers in public health, finds that a distinguishing feature of COVID-19 is the order in which symptoms first appear. Typically, patients will experience fever, cough, muscle aches and then nausea, and / or vomiting, and diarrhea.
To reach this conclusion, the USC researchers examined the rates of symptom incidence in two data sets of COVID-19 patients. The main dataset contains more than 55,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in China collected between 16 February and 24 February 2020 by the World Health Organization. The team also looked at a smaller dataset of about 1,100 cases from December and January to confirm their findings. ”
Using these data, the scientists created a model that predicts the likelihood that COVID-19 symptoms will occur in a specific order. They then compared their results with the probable sequence of symptoms in patients with other respiratory diseases. The other diseases included in the study are Influence, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). MERS and SARS are both closely related to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
‘The order of the symptoms matters. If you know that each disease progresses differently, doctors can identify earlier if someone is likely to have COVID-19, or another disease, which can help them make better treatment decisions, ”explains Joseph Larsen, lead author of the study. a statement.
How coronavirus symptoms differ from flu symptoms
The study finds that fever and cough are often associated with all four diseases studied. For flu, the first symptom is more likely cough. In the three coronavirus infections, the most common initial symptom is fever.
Scientists report that it is the timing of gastrointestinal symptoms that sets COVID-19 patients apart from MERS and SARS patients. In COVID-19 patients, upper tract GI symptoms such as nausea and vomiting appear before symptoms of lower GI ducts such as diarrhea. This is the reverse for patients with MERS and SARS.
“This sequence is especially important to know if we have overlapping cycles of diseases such as the flu that coincide with COVID-19 infections,” says co-author Peter Kuhn. “Physicians can determine what steps to take to care for the patient, and they can prevent the patient’s condition from deteriorating.”
Identifying symptoms earlier can help slow the spread of the virus
According to the authors, early identification of whether someone is likely to have COVID-19 or another disease is also important. This is because of the great need to stop the spread of coronavirus. Compared to flu, COVID-19 is two to three times transmissible.
However, the authors caution that the identification of symptom killer should not be used in place of testing. Instead, it should be taken as a possible sign to test.
“Given that there are now better approaches to COVID-19 treatments, patients can identify hospitalization sooner rather than later,” Larsen concludes.
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