For example, in Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom and Spain a nose cold, as such a snot nose is officially called, is not on the list of main symptoms. Also in the list of the World Health Organization (WHO) a nose cold is not mentioned.
In the Netherlands it is. In fact, our RIVM mentions the cold as the very first symptom. You should also get tested with a cold in Germany, the US and Italy. Where does that difference come from?
Detect early
Not every runny nose is caused by corona. But according to RIVM spokesman Harald Wychgel, the disease started in many corona patients with such a nose cold.
“It is an early symptom of the coronavirus,” explains Wychgel. “And we want to detect an infection as early as possible, to prevent people from walking around with it. That’s why people with a cold have to get tested.”
–
–
That a nose cold was not initially seen as a major corona symptom, according to the spokesman, because it is a mild complaint.
Wychgel: “If you sneeze once, you don’t immediately go to the doctor. But if you keep asking questions about infected patients, it often turns out that it often started with a runny nose.”
Not with every infection
The tricky thing about nasal complaints is that they often occur, while they do not occur with every corona infection. According to a study in eight European countries, of the reported corona patients, only 8 percent had a runny nose. Figures in the Netherlands are 15 to 20 percent of the patients tested positive.
“A nose cold often disappears by itself”, says the RIVM spokesperson. “And children or people with hay fever very often have nasal complaints. Then you mainly check whether the complaints are different from normal. But then you end up in a gray area, because you can of course suffer from hay fever and be infected with the corona virus.”
–
–
In other countries, cough, fever and fatigue are the main symptoms mentioned. These are also the most common symptoms in the Netherlands. Why other countries have a different policy for colds, the spokesman does not know.
All those brats have an effect on the test capacity. More and more people are being tested for corona, which means that waiting times for a test are increasing.
–
–
