Many doctors said the symptoms of the coronavirus were mild and followed a specific pattern, noting that symptoms such as a dry cough or loss of taste or smell had become characteristic features of the disease in the past. less common.
According to NBC News, doctors have indicated that the current symptoms are more concentrated in the upper respiratory tract and are closer to those of allergies or the common cold.
said Dr. Eric Etting, vice chief of surgery for emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “Most patients now complain of nasal congestion and sneezing and usually a mild sore throat.”
Etting pointed out that the corona patients he treated recently “suffered very mild symptoms”: “We didn’t know they had the virus until we tested them.”
The Joe Covid Symptom Study, which collects data on self-reported symptoms in the UK via smartphone apps, supported Etting. Its findings suggest that sore throats became more common after the omicron variant became dominant in late 2021. In contrast, olfactory loss was less severe, and hospitalization rates decreased compared to the summer and fall of 2021.
Dr. Grace McCamsey, a professor of clinical and translational research at Case Western University in the US, said the symptoms have begun to follow a specific pattern, as they now often begin with a sore throat and stuffy nose.
He also pointed out that some patients present with headache, fatigue, muscle aches, fever, chills and sometimes a cough with postnasal drip (nasal secretions that run from the back of the nose to the throat). , although not one of the primary symptoms of a cough virus.
Sore throats, fatigue and muscle aches usually last a few days, while nasal congestion lasts a few weeks, McCamsey said.
It is estimated that only 10 to 20 percent of corona patients lose taste or smell, compared with about 60 to 70 percent early in the pandemic.
Regarding diarrhea, one of the most common symptoms in the past, Etting said recently that he did not see many cases of diarrhea among his patients.
Etting and McComsey confirmed that the number of people now requiring hospitalization due to the virus is much smaller, and they also pointed out that many patients recover without needing to take antiviral drugs.
Dr. Dan Baruch, director of the Virology and Vaccine Research Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, attributed the current mild symptoms of the disease to immunity from vaccines and previous infections.
Baruch said, “In general, the intensity of Corona is much less than it was a couple of years ago. Not because the variables are less powerful. “But because the immune system is high.”
Doctors emphasized the need to get booster doses of corona vaccines, especially for the elderly, as the weakening of symptoms does not mean that the severity of the disease has disappeared.
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