This archive report was first published on 2 July 2020.
Coronavirus Symptoms: What You Need to Know ¶
Published on July 2, 2020
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, patients are reporting a range of symptoms beyond the commonly listed high temperature, new cough, loss of smell, and loss of taste. These include neurological symptoms, digestive issues, and other unusual signs.
According to experts, many coronavirus patients admitted to hospital have complained of neurological symptoms, such as headache, confusion, seizures, and even strokes. Delirium, a condition characterized by confusion and altered consciousness, is a well-known side effect of coronavirus, but its treatment is being mismanaged, experts warn.
Other symptoms reported by patients include fatigue or extreme tiredness, breathlessness or feeling short of breath, loss of appetite, a dry cough, and feeling hot or having a temperature. Less common signs being reported by those infected include lesions on the feet, testicular pain, and a strange 'buzzing' or 'fizzing' sensation on the skin.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School filed a case report about a 42-year-old man who tested positive for the virus, after going to hospital with a ‘stabbing pain’ in his testicles. While doctors could find nothing wrong with his testicles, a CT scan showed damage in his lungs. Two days later, the man was diagnosed with Covid-19.
Dr Daniel Griffin, chief of infectious disease at ProHealth Care Associates in the US, has suggested the 'buzzing' sensation may be part of an auto-immune response to a patient's nervous system. "Clearly it’s been identified, but we’re just not sure yet how widespread it is," he told the New York Post.
Medical experts in Spain are currently investigating whether those who have the virus could be identified by small lesions on the feet. The Spanish General Council of Official Podiatrist Colleges shared a statement revealing that several coronavirus patients had lesions on their feet.
A newly published study by the American Journal of Gastroenterology links tummy problems to Covid-19. They found that 48.5% of 204 people who have been infected by the coronavirus in China's Hubei province had digestive symptoms such as diarrhoea that can cause tummy pain.
