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The coronavirus or COVID-19 is an acute respiratory infection that is transmitted by airborne droplets and mainly affects the respiratory system, rarely the gastrointestinal tract.
Close contact with an infected person is enough for viral particles to penetrate the mucous membranes of the nasal passages and oropharynx.
Specific treatment of patients with COVID-19 not provided: antiviral therapy and symptomatic drugs are usually prescribed.
The main symptoms of infection are fever, body aches, malaise, decreased sense of smell.
However, these symptoms are also characteristic of other respiratory infections, including SARS, flu, and colds.
How to understand that a person has fallen ill and identify the coronavirus from common colds and ARVI? What to do if you have a cough, malaise, and muscle aches? Consultants of the Covid-19 Center in Ukraine will help answer all these questions.
Coronavirus or ARVI - how to understand that someone has the flu or a cold
Specialists around the world recommend treating any case of hyperthermia and general malaise as a sign of COVID.
Unfortunately, even a doctor cannot make an accurate diagnosis based only on the patient's examination and complaints.
Laboratory tests, namely blood analysis for antibodies, are of great clinical importance in the primary diagnosis of coronavirus infection.
Smears from the nasal passages and larynx do not give 100% results and often give false-positive results.
In a situation of high epidemiological danger, risks of complications and severe consequences for patients from the risk group (elderly and adults with concomitant diseases), it is recommended to pass a PCR test for coronavirus infection when specific symptoms appear.
Symptoms of coronavirus infection
The incubation period of the coronavirus varies from 2 to 14, and sometimes 21 days. Most often, 5-7 days pass from the moment of infection to the first symptoms. The main symptoms that characterize the coronavirus are:
- temperature (from subfebrile to high values);
- dry cough with a small amount of sputum;
- tightness in the sternum, which increases in the supine position;
- dyspnea;
- decrease or complete loss of smell.
In rare cases, headaches, stool disorders (diarrhea), tachycardia (increased heart rate) occur.
Cases of hemoptysis have been reported, but in this case, the coronavirus occurs against the background of pulmonary pathologies of any other origin (for example, pulmonary edema, tuberculosis, operations and scars on the walls of the organ in the anamnesis).
Most often, the disease ends with recovery, there are no specific measures for treatment.
The main treatment is etiotropic antiviral and symptomatic therapy.
Complicated course of coronavirus infection occurs only in one out of five to six patients.
Elderly and young people with a burdened medical history may experience such symptoms as increased blood pressure, blueness of the nasolabial triangle with shortness of breath (cyanosis), and chills.
According to generally accepted criteria, the course of the coronavirus can be distinguished by days:
- 1-3 days – temperature, pain and aches in the muscles, malaise;
- 4-5 day – a feeling of tightness in the sternum, bouts of dry cough, which increases discomfort and pain behind the sternum;
- 6-7 day – aggravation of pulmonary symptoms, with complications – increase in respiratory failure and the need for oxygen support;
- 8-10 days - with a mild or moderate course, the temperature normalizes;
- 11-14 days - the function of organs and systems is restored.
The average duration of the disease is 14-21 days.
Usually, negative tests for coronavirus infection are registered on the 21st-25th day after the improvement of general well-being.
Cold or coronavirus
A cold can be easily distinguished from the flu, ARVI and coronavirus.
The problem is that any cold can lead to the development of acute respiratory infections and bacterial complications.
Colds in most cases are easy.
Rhinorrhea, nasal congestion, malaise, the temperature rises rarely and does not exceed 37,5 degrees come to the fore.
It is necessary to seek medical help if a number of alarming symptoms appear:
- high temperature, which is difficult to get rid of with the usual antipyretic drugs;
- a feeling of tightness in the sternum;
- discomfort and psycho-emotional instability, fear of shortness of breath, incomplete filling of the chest;
- increased breathing;
- cyanosis - blueness of the nasolabial triangle;
- a decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the blood (optimally, 98-99%, the saturation is lower - a reason to urgently consult a doctor).
Moreover, if the severity of the patient's condition does not correspond to the course of acute respiratory infections or respiratory infections, it is important to consult a doctor and call for emergency help.
Distinctive features of SARS
Acute respiratory infections are characterized by a seasonal course. Common symptoms include swelling of the oropharynx and nasal mucosa, rhinorrhea – discharge from the nasal passages, sneezing, and other symptoms:
- conjunctivitis;
- weakness, malaise;
- squint in the eyes, photophobia;
- pain and ache in the body;
- sore throat;
- drowsiness, sleep disturbance;
- increase in submandibular lymph nodes.
Patients with SARS lose their appetite, are apathetic. Unlike the coronavirus, respiratory infections affect the nasal passages with the obligatory occurrence of swelling with congestion and rhinorrhea.
At first, the discharge is liquid and transparent, later bacterial infection, thickening of mucus, and purulent discharge may occur.
The incubation period of SARS is shorter, only 2-3 days. The coronavirus can stay in the body for more than 14 days.
Symptoms at the early stage are identical, but later they differ somewhat. Blood analysis will help reliably identify one clinical situation from another.
The main differences between the coronavirus and the flu
Influenza proceeds somewhat differently than COVID-19. Clinicians recommend paying attention not to the severity of the flu, but to some clinical aspects:
- The usual influenza virus has an incubation period, a climax and a resolution stage. The first stage is short, lasts up to 3 days. The beginning is sharp, heavy. Main symptoms: high temperature, malaise, burning skin, muscle aches, drowsiness. With COVID, pain in the joints is rare, however, it is quite easy to confuse joint pain with muscle pain.
- Influenza occurs equally in children and adults. The coronavirus infection mainly affects adults. Statistics from the time of the coronavirus pandemic indicate the percentage of infection: children 18-25% of cases (of which 0,1-0,5% are severe), adults and elderly 80% (of which 15-25% are severe or moderately severe).
- Complications and mortality from the coronavirus are much higher than with the usual flu virus. Lethality occurs from the growth of respiratory failure against the background of pneumonia or impaired lung function. With influenza, complications are more often observed in children of early age, as well as in persons with a complicated history of the disease.
Today, it is impossible to accurately determine the relationship between the simultaneous appearance of the coronavirus and the influenza virus, however, there are cases of detection of the COVID-19 and H1N1 viruses in blood tests.
The severity of the combined course of viral infections is difficult to trace.
Basically, viruses from different group segments affect cells in a similar way, so the latter will affect the body to a lesser extent than the first viral strain.
Coronavirus cough - are there any differences?
The second important symptom is a dry cough, which accompanies many otolaryngological diseases.
Experts say that not every cough or coughing can be considered as an infection with the coronavirus.
In fact, dry cough is not found in every patient, but only in 45-47% of all infected people. Symptoms of cough with coronavirus infection:
- perspiration and itching in the throat;
- discomfort when swallowing;
- foreign body sensation;
- a dry cough may change to a productive one with a slight separation of sputum.
The separation of sputum in COVID-19 occurs after the introduction of viral particles into the lung tissue, and the difficult evacuation of mucus is caused by the narrowing of the bronchioles.
Against the background of the development of pneumonia - the main one complications of coronavirus, the discharge becomes abundant, thick with an admixture of blood and pus.
A similar cough is possible in many diseases of the ENT organs, however, as the pathological process progresses, fundamental differences are observed:
- runny nose, chronic rhinorrhea - a coughing fit with copious sputum occurs in the morning;
- laryngitis, tracheitis, nasopharyngitis - a dry cough quickly becomes productive, a sore throat appears, the attacks are painful, often ending in vomiting;
- bronchitis - inflammation of the mucous membranes of the bronchi with a productive barking cough.
Allergic cough develops suddenly, accompanied by swelling of the larynx, often without sputum discharge. Attacks pass in the same way as they arise - immediately after the cessation of the influence of the provoking allergen.
Diagnosis and treatment of coronavirus, ARVI, influenza in Ukraine
Unfortunately, it is impossible to independently distinguish the symptoms of a coronavirus infection from the symptoms of ARVI or the flu.
Today, the main method of diagnosis in Ukraine remains the PCR test (scraping from the surface of the back wall of the pharynx).
Also, the blood test for antibodies is considered to be an informative method, which with 99% accuracy indicates the presence or absence of a coronavirus infection.
An increase in the amount of immunoglobulins A and M in the blood indicates an active, acute stage of the coronavirus infection, and an increase in the amount of immunoglobulin G in the blood is an accurate sign that the body has undergone a coronavirus infection and is developing immunity to this virus.
Even after receiving confirmation of the presence of the virus in the body, this does not mean that hospitalization in a specialized center or in a hospital is required, the key is the patient's well-being.
In the case of an increase in the symptom complex and the appearance of signs of respiratory failure, the treatment of coronavirus is carried out in specialized centers of the country.
