Professor Kalibat talks about an important feature of COVID-19 infection: the death rate of patients suffering from it is up to 26.5 percent.

I have to admit with deep sadness that in some days Lithuania, according to contagion statistics, has even beaten the European leaders. Probably everyone who is still following the information on the coronavirus has mastered the main symptoms of coronavirus infection reported by the World Health Organization: fever, cough, respiratory failure (shortness of breath) better than the multiplication table.

Other symptoms may be less common: loss of smell and taste, weakness, sore throat, headache, muscle aches, diarrhea.

It has now been fully demonstrated that the coronavirus can damage any vital organ, if not directly, apparently due to vascular micro- or macro-thrombosis. It goes without saying that the symptoms of a coronavirus infection can vary widely and even mimic a mental illness with a wide variety of hallucinations.

We are no longer talking about a large number of asymptomatic forms of the disease, which is also scary, since it significantly complicates the diagnosis of infection and the prevention of infections. After all, investigating the entire population becomes a difficult task, even for very rich countries, and bearing in mind that there will always be people who will treat the investigation offer as a violation of human rights or an illegal restriction of freedoms. individual.

Perhaps the only positive thing that comes out of the whole tragic situation created by the coronavirus is that some people who never cared about their health and who simply did not like doctors or clinics finally realized that losing a life could be very easy. , so they radically changed their approach to both. your health and the importance of medical services.

Unfortunately, when someone develops fear and undue concern for their health, they call their family doctor for every symptom they experience, even if it is not a symptom of a coronavirus, and if it is not time to get tested. Unfortunately, in the absence of an improvement in the epidemiological situation so far, the eyes of fear will always be large and we, family doctors, know this very well.

Looking at a series of studies on the clinical symptoms of coronavirus infection, we often see that the frequency of one or the other of the recorded symptoms (and thus their diagnostic value) often varies significantly. One of the most comprehensive studies on the incidence of individual symptoms of coronavirus infection was conducted in the United States in 2020, when a study of 55,924 patients treated in hospitals in New York and adjacent regions found that the most common symptom in patients from bout was fever, 87.9 percent. cases. Other symptoms were cough – 67.7%, weakness – 38.1%, sputum – 33.4%, shortness of breath – 18.6%, sore throat – 13.9%, headache – 13.6% . percent

When examining the correlations between disease severity and individual symptoms in detail, it was found that for some patients, the consistently measured body temperature was stable below 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (below 36 degrees Celsius). In the group of patients with low body temperature, the mortality rate reached 26.5 percent.

It should also be taken into account that the high temperature of the patients was not correlated with the increase in mortality.

In summarizing the study results, the authors concluded that low body temperature in coronavirus infection is a poor prognostic indicator of disease outcome.

Around the same time, an article by Chinese scientists was published describing a unique clinical case in which a patient with hospitalization problems was found to have the only near-drowsy symptom – a drop in body temperature below 35 degrees.

Additional research by Chinese researchers has shown that at low temperatures, the replication of the coronavirus occurs much faster than, for example, at 37 degrees. Of course, in coronavirus infection, low body temperature indicates that the immune system has little or no response to the pathogen.

By the way, as in cases where the immune system responds hyperactively, autoimmune processes begin, which is also a poor prognostic sign. As we can see, either extreme is bad.

Many people also seem to be concerned about the emergence of coronavirus mutations that increase the chances of infection. Unfortunately, during this vacation, I personally had to observe that most of the people who decided to enjoy the snowy winter in the Vilnius Sapiegyn hillsė were simply cut off on all the virus mutations: a real anthill, no social distance, part without masks.

Apparently one of the worst prognostic signs of the coronavirus in this situation is the stupidity of some people, waiting for others to get sick and I really can’t. Doctors can no longer help anyone here.

The good news is that vaccination has been actively launched, but sadly, with some makeup, those who were not entitled to it have been vaccinated in the prescribed order. The administrators of those who allowed it and those who got vaccinated illegally are a very poor prognostic indicator of their conscience. Apparently, the coronavirus also killed his remains.

As G. Orwell wrote, all animals are equal, but some are more equal. It is sad that we still have more of the same in Lithuania. But wanting to end a more cheerful trend, the vaccine also appears to work against dangerous mutations of the coronavirus. Therefore, I sincerely wish that everyone gets vaccinated as soon as possible and is healthy.