Do I have Covid-19: Short handbook for people with symptoms
About 200,000 people in Bulgaria have been infected with Covid-19 since the epidemic began, according to official data from the Ministry of Health’s information system. Although patients, their relatives and institutions have had experience managing COVID-19 for nine months, there is now no official summary information on the most common questions about the disease and their answers, apart from some videos published on the official website about the coronavirus.
Dnevnik gathered some of the information that can be found through official and informal sources and that can serve as a guide to non-specialists in case of suspected infection.
The explanations offered here come from documents from Bulgarian and foreign institutions, from doctors and researchers in the media, as well as summaries of treatment manuals published on social networks in other countries and observations of doctors who have already encountered the disease.
Despite the information gathered, the most important advice is to consult a doctor – general practitioner or specialist and avoid self-medication in case of doubt and concern about COVID-19.
Symptoms warning of COVID-19
The World Health Organization (WHO) lists a number of symptoms of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (the virus that causes COVID-19), many of which are supplemented during pandemic development and knowledge about the disease. The most common symptoms are:
– high temperature; dry cough; fatigue.
Other symptoms that are less common and may occur in some patients are: loss of taste or sense of smell, nasal congestion, conjunctivitis (also known as redness of the eyes), sore throat, headache, muscle or joint pain, various skin types, rash, nausea or vomiting , diarrhea, colds and dizziness.
A Facebook post provides some more specific criteria with the explanation that they are based on recommendations from the Association for Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology in the Kingdom of Sweden and observations of doctors in the country. The author Georgi Draganov points out that he is a practitioner in Sweden and has gathered information that can help his Bulgarian colleagues. According to the information provided by him, the symptoms observed in the country according to the healthcare staff he contacted are:
High temperature (up to 40 degrees) in 60 to 99% of patients.
2. Fatigue – in 70% of patients.
3. Dry cough – at 59%.
4. loss of appetite – 40%.
5. Muscle pain – at 35%.
6. Shortness of breath – at 31%.
7. Cough with sputum – by 27%.
8. Diarrhea, loss of appetite and sense of smell, heart complications.
An online test is available in Bulgaria from the spring, which can guide people with suspected infections if they are at risk and how to react. It was developed by Dr. Ivan-Asen Shishmanov, a physician at the Cardiology Clinic at Pirogov Emergency Hospital, and agreed with the head of the clinic and other specialists from the hospital, as well as with the recommendations of the WHO.
How long does it take to develop symptoms?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it takes an average of five to six days from the moment of infection with SARS-CoV-2 to the onset of symptoms, but the time can vary between one and fourteen days. Therefore, the WHO insists that those infected stay at home and away from other people for 14 days to prevent the spread of the virus, especially when testing is not readily available.
The Robert Koch Institute in Germany recommends that people with mild complaints, which for one reason or another cannot be tested, be treated for at least five days at home. In addition, they should be 48 hours without symptoms before having contact with other people. Thus, if these “unknown patients” are infected with COVID-19, it greatly reduces the possibility of infecting others. If complaints increase, the Robert Koch Institute also recommends a person contact their doctor.
How to distinguish COVID-19 from influenza
The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the WHO emphasize that the symptoms are similar and that it is difficult to determine which infection we have only on the basis of them.
To find out if it is the flu or a virus, the CDC recommends a test. There is a combined test for coronavirus and influenza in Bulgaria, but patients should contact their doctor and ask for a referral.
In this context, a Q&A Cornavirus summary from Harvard University states that a treating physician should doubt coronavirus if the patient has:
– respiratory symptoms
– has had contact with someone who is believed to have Covid-19
– or it is infected with the virus around the patient
Testing – when and with which test to do
PCR, which is considered to be the most reliable method, is used to detect coronavirus infection in Bulgaria and the world.
According to the WHO, these tests are most effective during active infection, ie a few days after the infection and during the period when the symptoms begin to manifest. There is no point in doing a test one day after communicating with a person who has developed symptoms – even if you are infected, the study will not be able to determine this and the result will be false negative. You have to wait at least three or four days. Despite the high reliability, there are certain conditions in this test in different cases.
The results of the PCR test come out in about a day and upon confirmation, the infected person is subjected to mandatory isolation for 14 days.
The other type of research that is often done is antigen testing. Their results become known in about 20 minutes, but are less accurate than in the PCR test. Therefore, the health authorities in Bulgaria require that a positive antigen test be confirmed by a PCR. It is similar to the requirements of the German authorities.
An important detail in this test is that it becomes positive between the third and eighth day after infection and is credible in the middle of the second week after the onset of symptoms, explained Professor Dr. Radka Argirova, virologist in a clinical laboratory of “Acibadem City Clinic Hospital Tokuda”.
Copyright (c) Novinite.com. Published with permission via Big News Network news agency
Source: sn.dk