This archive report was first published on 16 June 2020.
COVID-19 Symptoms in Kenya: Understanding the Dry Cough and Fever ¶
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread in Kenya, patients are developing a range of symptoms, including dry cough and fever. According to data from the Ministry of Health, out of the 3,106 positive cases reported so far, only 20 per cent are symptomatic, with the rest showing no symptoms at all.
The most common symptoms reported by patients include cough and fever, which are present in 49 and 44 per cent of cases respectively. Shortness of breath is also a common symptom, affecting 31 per cent of patients, while 19 per cent have a headache.
Prof Matilu Mwau, a researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, emphasized the importance of monitoring patients with symptoms closely, as they are more likely to develop complications.
"These are the people we need to monitor closely. The transmission is easier and with the symptoms, they can easily develop complications in worse scenarios," Prof Mwau said.
Dr Van Kerkhove, the head of the World Health Organization, has urged countries to focus on following asymptomatic patients to cut the transmission of the virus. "If we followed all the symptomatic cases because we know this is a respiratory pathogen which passes from an individual through infectious droplets, isolated those cases, followed the contacts and quarantined them, we would drastically reduce transmission," Dr Kerkhove said.
Dr Isaac Ngere, a medical epidemiologist, explained that COVID-19 is a respiratory infection that gets through the respiratory route and causes infection to the lungs. It binds specific receptors in the body, which are abundant in the lungs, and when tissue is compromised, the patients get irritation, hence the dry cough symptom.
"Once in the lungs, it irritates the system and that's why you find more people trying to clear the throat by a cough to remove the foreign materials," Dr Ngere explained.
Dr Eric Osoro, a doctor and an epidemiologist, also explained that the virus moves down the respiratory tract, causing damage to the lungs, which leads to fluid leaking from small blood vessels in the lungs. The fluid collects in the lungs' air sacs, making it difficult for the lungs to transfer oxygen from the air to the blood and hence the breathing difficulty.
