Fever, cough, weakness, muscle aches, loss of taste and smell. These are the symptoms that we have learned to associate with Covid-19 in this long and longer year of pandemic, but now we read on various sites and newspapers that the symptoms have changed due to the variations. There is talk of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and a low-grade fever below 38 ° C. In short, symptoms that are very reminiscent of a gastrointestinal flu. But is it really so? Are the variants also modifying the symptoms of Covid-19?
Immune, but contagious: this is why the mask is also useful for vaccinated people
by Fabio Di Todaro
Just yesterday The Lancet published a study from which it emerges that in the English variant in reality no changes in symptoms were found. “In my clinical practice but also from the comparison with colleagues from other hospitals, the feeling is that the symptoms are always the same – he confirms Massimo Andreoni, scientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit) and head of Infectivology at the Tor Vergata Polyclinic in Rome – the fact is that it is a very variable disease, with very different symptoms and cases, but it was so since the start of the pandemic. In fact, some subjects have more gastrointestinal symptoms, others more neurological symptoms and still others are more affected in the respiratory system ”.
One virus, many symptoms
As can be read from the Ministry of Health website, the typical symptoms of Covid-19 are fever, cough, sore throat, weakness, fatigue and muscle pain. Severe cases can present with pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and other complications, all of which can be life-threatening. Sudden loss of smell (anosmia) or decreased sense of smell (hyposmia) and loss of taste (ageusia) have also been recognized as symptoms of Covid-19. Other less specific symptoms may include headache, chills, myalgia, asthenia, vomiting and / or diarrhea. In short, a great variability.
The English study
Another study, this time published in the British Medical Journal, sought to investigate changes in symptoms. The study was carried out by the UK on 19,000 people between May 27 and December 4, 2020. It found that 40% of patients did not have one of the three classic symptoms: fever, persistent dry cough or loss of taste and smell. Therefore, it is not certain that a Covid patient must necessarily show all the symptoms. “The symptoms are very subjective and also depends on the comorbidity”, adds Andreoni. “A chronic bronchitis will have greater respiratory failure, a headache will have more migraine symptoms and so on.”
Covid, the key to ‘hidden’ variants in the immune system
by Noemi Penna
But is it true that there are fewer patients who lose taste and smell? “It does not seem to me that this is the case – replies the infectious disease specialist – rather we keep in mind that the English study was carried out between spring and summer when the virus circulates less and with a lower viral load, which could explain the fact that fewer symptoms were detected ”. Only a few minor differences in symptoms emerge from the report “Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey: characteristics of people testing positive for COVID-19 in England”, developed in collaboration with scientists from the University of Oxford, University of Manchester, Public Health England and the Wellcome Trust have been published on the official website of the Office for National Statistics.
Covid: will there ever be herd immunity?
by Elisa Manacorda
In short, the idea that the variants are changing the symptoms of the disease does not seem plausible at the moment. “The English variant – continues Andreoni – now represents 90% of new cases in Italy, so it is predominant and we would notice if there were different symptoms. In reality, the only difference compared to the first and second wave is that the English variant occurs more often in young people between 40 and 60 years with pictures that can also be serious while before in this age group it was rare for a patient ended up in intensive care “. No connection then between variants and symptoms? “The latter remain the same but we are underestimating that the greater transmissibility of the English variant implies that there is a greater viral load. But catching a virus that replicates more means having more serious symptoms even in the youngest ”, Andreoni replies.
If the disease does not change it is positive
Could the fact that sometimes lighter symptoms are detected could be due to a sort of adaptation that our body is putting in place? In short, aren’t we slowly getting used to Sars-Cov-2? “Mortality is still very high and this testifies that the virus has not yet become endemic and has not reduced its virulence”, explains Andreoni. The only difference is that in some phases of this third wave mortality occurred among younger subjects, which also depends on the fact that up to now we have mainly vaccinated the elderly and medical personnel ”. However, the fact that the symptoms have remained the same is good news: “Otherwise it would mean that the disease is changing, which would be worrying because we would have to get to know it again”, concludes the infectious specialist.
Coronavirus, the identikit of the variants: the Japanese after the English and the Brazilian
by Daniele Banfi
.