The best way to know whether a suspected coronavirus patient has the viral infection is through testing, especially when COVID-19 does not have any universal symptoms. Experts are still scratching their heads why some cases show different and unique signs compared to most people.
COVID-19 Symptoms
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the most common initial symptoms of COVID-19 includes difficulty in breathing, fever, and cough.
Nevertheless, there have been several atypical cases of coronavirus wherein the patients experienced nothing of the common symptoms but developed testicular pain or loss of hearing. Some have even reported losing their sense of smell and taste.
Although first deemed as unusual, it turns out that loss of smell and taste is a common initial symptom of COVID-19 and that experts were able to understand why this happens: the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or the novel coronavirus, affect specific cells in the olfactory region on its way to the lungs.
Loss of Smell and Taste
Now, another group of researchers from the UC San Diego Health has discovered something new about the symptom.
According to BGR, the experts were able to discover that anyone who experienced the symptoms is more likely to have COVID-19 infection, but that there is some good news for them.
"If you have smell and taste loss, you are more than 10 times more likely to have COVID-19 infection than other causes of infection. The most common first sign of a COVID-19 infection remains fever, but fatigue and loss of smell and taste follow as other very common initial symptoms," said Dr. Carol Yan, a head and neck surgeon, and otolaryngologist at UC San Diego Health.
Furthermore, Dr. Yan believes that their study supports the need to be aware of these symptoms as they are early signs of coronavirus infection.
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The team was able to get their results by surveying 1,480 patients experiencing flu-like symptoms from Mar. 3 to 29.
From the total number of patients, 102 were tested positive of COVID-19.
The team also included the response of 59 COVID-19 patients and 203 more people, and most of them had milder cases and did not require any hospitalization or intubation, which could be some good news to whoever experiences a loss of smell and taste.
Recovery Rate is High
The study also said that the symptoms were profound, but that the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients who had it was high.
According to Dr. Yan, recovery occurred two to three weeks after the initial infection.
More than 70% of the patients had already recovered by the time the survey was conducted--those who are still sick have only recently acquired the disease.
Now, the UC San Diego Health uses the symptoms to screen whether a visitor or a staff might have the coronavirus infection. Nevertheless, it does not mean all COVID-19 patients will experience them.
Additionally, the survey also found out that most respondents who had sore-throat tested negative of the infection.
As of now, there are over 2 million cases of COVID-19 around the world, with around 136,000 deaths, but over 523,000 people have already recovered.
