Doctors have also detected atypical symptoms such as hair loss and ear plugging
Headache first, scratchy throat then and finally a little runny nose.
Those were the ailments of a person, in his 50s, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, in a private laboratory.
At home he drank water with ginger, garlic, lemon and salt and felt that improved a nuisance what was in his throat.
symptoms appeared about three days later of having had close contact with a person who, days before, had the virus detected.
He stayed at home isolatedwaiting for his recovery.
Fever, chill, headache, throat were the symptoms they suffered three of five members of the same family, made up of the father, the mother and three sons, infected with COVID-19. They began to have these problems on January 5.
Then he gave one of them vomiting, joint pain, and dizziness. To the mother, in addition, pain of the body. To one of the children, hoarseness, nasal congestion, phlegm They also stayed at home to overcome their discomfort, they received telemedicine consultation and the medicines were brought by a close friend.
A Married couple, who went last week to undergo a medical assessment of respiratory symptoms, at one of the points set up by the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), said that some of the discomforts they presented were body pain, throat and head.
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Danny Chavez, medical director of the Hospital Pablo Arturo Suarez, which is the health house of the MSP designated for priority attention for COVID, indicated that every day for medical evaluation they go between 60 and 70 people who suffer from fever, general discomfort, body pain, sore throat, cough, and some shortness of breath, which are those who require hospitalization, which is 10%. 1% goes to critical care.
For Chavez, with the delta variant, the symptoms appeared between the seventh and tenth day of infection, while currently it is three to five days.
“In the vast majority of cases, they present sore throat and general malaiseWe have already seen that the fever has changed a bit; we have patients who do not necessarily present fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, which was one of the symptoms that most frequently presented with the other variants”, explained the doctor. These changes in symptom patterns have been observed since December 2021.
The first case of the omicron variant it was detected in the country in mid-December 2021.
to whom they are not hospitalized They prescribe painkillers, anti-inflammatories, among others. While for those who are hospitalized, the treatment depends on each situation, which may be age, illness, how they arrive at the hospital.
For Alberto Narvaez, physician, who has a Ph. D. in Disease Control Policy, omicron symptoms They are runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing, sore throat.
Narváez expressed that with the delta variant there are more cases with loss of smell and taste, red eyes, increased runny nose.
Cough, added the expert, is common in delta and omicron, but with the first it is pulmonary, so it entails more risk of death.
When asking Narváez why there are somewhat different symptoms between these variants, he replied that genetic studies determine that in the omicron there is a mutation belonging to the influenza virus common.
For Narvaez, the omicron is the dominant in Ecuador, since it represents more than 95% of cases. “It affects more (…) bronchi, trachea, pharynx, larynx, therefore, the pain and burning of the throat is much more frequent, as is the runny nose,” he said.
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But doctors have also detected atypical symptoms. The COVID-19 forced Melanie Poveda and her family to distance themselves during the end of the year festivities. In addition to the classic symptoms of this disease, such as cough and sore throat, she experienced hair loss and severe plugging of the left ear During two days.
These are, according to consulted specialists, some of the unusual symptoms that some people can develop when they get COVID-19 and that have been detected with the omicron variant.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Jerónimo Cassanello, internist and intensivist of the Interhospital hospital complex in Guayaquil, has treated more than 600 patients with severe COVID-19. He says that on several occasions he has tried cases with heart attacks or heart malfunction. The last of these was in December, when he had a case of myocardial infarction in a COVID-positive patient.
Cassanello specifies that “when you go to see a patient, regardless of the symptoms, you have to consider the chance you have COVID” or who has, at the same time, infection by the virus and another disease, without there being a cause and effect relationship.
It ensures that the coronavirus infection causes a systemic affectation, that is, it attacks the entire organism. “Although its main affectation is in the respiratory tract with the formation of thrombi, can cause other conditions such as diarrhea (digestive system), hives (on the skin), headache (neurological symptom); it can affect the whole body actually.”
The internist doctor Éric Álvarez recalls the particular case of a family of four, who for four days presented severe pain in the right leg. On the fourth day, one of them began to cough. After a PCR test, all tested positive. Today, after two weeks, the family returned to their normal activities.
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Álvarez explains that although there are unusual cases, “Atypical symptoms may be signs of the disease” and that these are presented according to the basic health status of the patients or their emotional situation prior to infection.
When a patient with pre-existing diseases (diabetes, heart disease, skin diseases or pneumonia, for example) and you do not have them under control, could develop atypical symptoms. But if the illnesses are controlled, the patient is more likely to experience only the classic symptoms of COVID-19.
Thus, with each patient who arrives and presents a different picture from the previous one, Dr. Álvarez is impressed by how particular each case is. “My reaction is almost always surprise at how multifaceted this disease is. Each person has their own COVID. It cannot be generalized, it is a very personalized disease and therefore the treatment should be like this. Each patient is a world”, affirms the doctor.
In children
Regarding the symptoms in children, the infectologist Carola Cedillo emphasizes that although they initially present fever, the evolution of the disease can be crossed with intestinal pictures, in addition to alterations in the skin.
It also underlines that “in the childhood stage, especially in who have not been vaccinated, more severe respiratory conditions begin to occur, not only colds, but bronchiolitis and CRUP (an infection in the respiratory tract that causes inflammation of the larynx and trachea), which cause the child to have a metallic cough and difficulty breathing. (I)
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