Recognizing the first symptoms of Covid-19 is of fundamental importance but distinguishing the signs of a possible contagion is not always easy since the Sars-Cov-2 infection presents a very similar symptomatology to that of other more common respiratory diseases, such as seasonal flu. An overlap that, in the early stages of the epidemic, resulted in a lack of recognition of Covid-19 cases, facilitating the spread of the virus all over the world.
The order of the first symptoms of Covid-19
Being able to identify the differences between the different pathologies can therefore help the early recognition of Covid-19 and, in this regard, researchers from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in collaboration with colleagues from the US company Nexus Development and the Nanocarrier of Chiba, Japan, have developed a model to determine what is the most common temporal order of Covid-19 symptoms and to identify how this succession differs in other respiratory diseases, particularly those due to influenza viruses and coronaviruses that cause Sars and Mers.
To arrive at the most likely timeline, the researchers used data from the World Health Organization (WHO) related to over 55 thousand cases of Covid-19 confirmed in China and compared the order of appearance of symptoms with that of thousands of cases of seasonal flu collected by the University of Michigan, of nearly 150 cases of SARS registered in the Toronto area and of 45 cases of MERS reported in Korea. South.
The results of the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, indicate that the sequence of the first symptoms of Covid-19 it tends to start with fever then progressing to coughing and muscle aches, followed by nausea and / or vomiting and eventually diarrhea. The order of symptoms due to seasonal influenza virus begins with cough followed by fever. Conversely, the symptoms of Sars and Mers could begin in a similar way to Covid-19 but, after fever and cough, it is the intestinal tract that is affected first, leading to diarrhea before nausea and vomiting.
“We have found evidence that supports the thesis that it exists a more common order of distinguishable symptoms of Covid-19, different from that of other major respiratory diseases – commented Joseph Larsen, researcher in Biology, computation and bioinformatics and first author of the study -. Knowing that each disease progresses differently means doctors do they can identify more quickly whether that infection is due to Sars-Cov-2 or other viruses and can help make the best treatment decisions”.
The researchers also evaluated other symptoms of Covid-19, such as sore throat, headache and fatigue, but the order of the four most likely initial symptoms (fever, cough, body aches, nausea / vomiting, diarrhea) did not change. . “Our results – the researchers conclude – indicate that fever is the most likely symptom to occur first in adult patients with symptomatic Covid-19, supporting the practice that body temperature should be measured before allowing entry to facilities and that people with fevers should immediately seek medical assistance for diagnosis and contact tracing. Such measures can help to reduce transmission despite the high contagion of Sars-CoV-2”.
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