Coronavirus Watch: Governments Rush to Secure Ventilators | 2020 ...



cold and flu like symptoms :: Article Creator

COVID-19 Symptoms Now Similar To Allergies, Cold Or Flu

Many people with COVID-19 now are presenting with upper respiratory symptoms like runny nose, watery eyes and a sore throat File Photo by Senior Airman Benjamin Stratton/U.S. Air Force

Symptoms of mild COVID-19 infection have shifted this season, and now are more akin to those of allergies and the common cold, doctors say.

Many people with COVID-19 now are presenting with upper respiratory symptoms like runny nose, watery eyes and a sore throat, said Dr. Teresa Lovins, an independent family physician in Columbus, Ind.

"A couple of patients told me 'this seems like my allergies, but my allergy med isn't working. And then I start feeling really, really tired and I just can't get my energy up and about,'" Lovins recounted. "And I'm like, 'yeah, we ought to test you for COVID,' and more times than not it's positive."

Fatigue also continues to plague COVID patients, according to Lovins and Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

"Fatigue for 24, 48 even 72 hours appears to be really quite common," Schaffner said. "People just feel puny, as we say here in the South. They don't all take to their bed, but there's a fair amount of comment about people taking naps just because they feel wiped out."

Other well-established COVID-19 symptoms -- deep cough, a loss of taste or smell, headache, fever -- have become much less common or pronounced, Lovins and Schaffner said.

"What I'm hearing from my clinical colleagues, there is indeed a great deal of upper respiratory symptoms. I hear sore throat mentioned very, very prominently," Schaffner said. "Also, from many quarters, I hear that the well-publicized loss of taste and smell is less frequent than it was in the early months of the outbreak. It's not really as distinctive nor as common as it used to be."

Infectious disease experts expected this shift in mild illness, given that "virtually everyone has either experienced COVID infection or vaccination or both," Schaffner said.

"We all have a certain level of immunity, and when we encounter the virus, we're better prepared to fend it off, and that may actually alter the clinical presentation," he continued.

People also have benefited from mutation trends in COVID, which have tended to favor the Omicron strain and its descendants, Schaffner said.

"Those viruses appear to be somewhat less severe in their presentations," he pointed out.

But Lovins and Schaffner stressed that people should not take COVID lightly, even if milder infections have become more like the common cold.

Nationwide, more than 20,500 hospitalizations for severe COVID-19 happened the first week in September, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's data tracker. That constitutes a nearly 8% increase in hospitalizations.

"I know in our community our hospitalizations have picked up again," said Lovins, a board member for the American Academy of Family Physicians. "We're seeing not anywhere near what we saw even last fall, but the numbers are up over what they've been since May. They kind of went way down, to no patients with COVID in the hospital during the summer, to now back up again."

COVID-19 remains particularly dangerous for people with existing health problems: older people, those with chronic conditions, the immune-compromised.

"Those folks all, when they become infected, still are more likely to get more serious disease, and that results in an increase in hospitalizations," Schaffner said.

But he added that there's a reason the CDC recently recommended the new COVID booster for everyone, not just those at high risk.

"This emphasis on the high-risk population is true," Schaffner said. "However, we still see occasional young, healthy people who get hit with COVID, who wind up in the emergency room and have to be admitted to the hospital. So just because you're completely healthy and young, robust and physically fit does not mean that you can throw off a COVID infection or treat it as trivial. This virus still compels our respect."

The newest COVID booster specifically targets members of the Omicron XBB variant family, Lovins said.

The most common COVID variant, EG.5, belongs to that family. It currently accounts for 1 in 4 COVID infections in the United States, the CDC says.

So does the second most common variant, FL.1.5.1, which accounts for 14% of COVID infections.

"The vaccine that's out, that variant they planned for was an XBB," Lovins said. "So we've definitely got coverage with this vaccine for what's out there right now."

Lovins also urged people to get the appropriate vaccinations for the flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

"I have a feeling that we're probably going to see the COVID vaccine become very similar to the flu vaccine, something that will be available every year in the fall," Lovins said.

More information

HealthDay has more about COVID-19. Johns Hopkins has more about the EG.5 variant.

Copyright © 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

image


Today's COVID Is Increasingly Looking Like A Cold Or Flu, Doctors Say

Symptoms of mild COVID-19 infection have shifted this season, and now are more akin to those of allergies and the common cold, doctors say.

Many people with COVID-19 now are presenting with upper respiratory symptoms like runny nose, watery eyes and a sore throat, said Dr. Teresa Lovins, an independent family physician in Columbus, Ind.

"A couple of patients told me, 'This seems like my allergies, but my allergy med isn't working. And then I start feeling really, really tired and I just can't get my energy up and about,'" Lovins recounted. "And I'm like, 'yeah, we ought to test you for COVID,' and more times than not it's positive."

Fatigue also continues to plague COVID patients, according to Lovins and Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

"Fatigue for 24, 48 even 72 hours appears to be really quite common," Schaffner said. "People just feel puny, as we say here in the South. They don't all take to their bed, but there's a fair amount of comment about people taking naps just because they feel wiped out."

Other well-established COVID-19 symptoms—deep cough, a loss of taste or smell, headache, fever—have become much less common or pronounced, Lovins and Schaffner said.

"What I'm hearing from my clinical colleagues, there is indeed a great deal of upper respiratory symptoms. I hear sore throat mentioned very, very prominently," Schaffner said. "Also, from many quarters, I hear that the well-publicized loss of taste and smell is less frequent than it was in the early months of the outbreak. It's not really as distinctive nor as common as it used to be."

Infectious disease experts expected this shift in mild illness, given that "virtually everyone has either experienced COVID infection or vaccination or both," Schaffner said.

"We all have a certain level of immunity, and when we encounter the virus, we're better prepared to fend it off, and that may actually alter the clinical presentation," he continued.

People also have benefited from mutation trends in COVID, which have tended to favor the omicron strain and its descendants, Schaffner said.

"Those viruses appear to be somewhat less severe in their presentations," he pointed out.

But Lovins and Schaffner stressed that people should not take COVID lightly, even if milder infections have become more like the common cold.

Nationwide, more than 20,500 hospitalizations for severe COVID-19 happened the first week in September, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's data tracker. That constitutes a nearly 8% increase in hospitalizations.

"I know in our community our hospitalizations have picked up again," said Lovins, a board member for the American Academy of Family Physicians. "We're seeing not anywhere near what we saw even last fall, but the numbers are up over what they've been since May. They kind of went way down, to no patients with COVID in the hospital during the summer, to now back up again."

COVID-19 remains particularly dangerous for people with existing health problems: older people, those with chronic conditions, the immune-compromised.

"Those folks all—when they become infected—still are more likely to get more serious disease, and that results in an increase in hospitalizations," Schaffner said.

But he added that there's a reason the CDC recently recommended the new COVID booster for everyone, not just those at high risk.

"This emphasis on the high-risk population is true," Schaffner said. "However, we still see occasional young, healthy people who get hit with COVID, who wind up in the emergency room and have to be admitted to the hospital. So just because you're completely healthy and young, robust and physically fit does not mean that you can throw off a COVID infection or treat it as trivial. This virus still compels our respect."

The newest COVID booster specifically targets members of the omicron XBB variant family, Lovins said.

The most common COVID variant, EG.5, belongs to that family. It currently accounts for 1 in 4 COVID infections in the United States, the CDC says.

So does the second most common variant, FL.1.5.1, which accounts for 14% of COVID infections.

"The vaccine that's out, that variant they planned for was an XBB," Lovins said. "So we've definitely got coverage with this vaccine for what's out there right now."

Lovins also urged people to get the appropriate vaccinations for the flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

"I have a feeling that we're probably going to see the COVID vaccine become very similar to the flu vaccine, something that will be available every year in the fall," Lovins said.

More information: HealthDay has more about COVID-19.

Johns Hopkins has more about the EG.5 variant.

2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Citation: Today's COVID is increasingly looking like a cold or flu, doctors say (2023, September 21) retrieved 30 September 2023 from https://medicalxpress.Com/news/2023-09-today-covid-cold-flu-doctors.Html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.


Cold And Flu News

July 24, 2023 — Taking a significant leap in the field of vaccine development, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry researchers have discovered a potential 'super molecule' that can bolster the ...

July 24, 2023 — While the incidence of influenza-associated neuropsychiatric events in children in the United States is unknown, the controversy over the use of a common antiviral medication typically administered ...

June 21, 2023 — A new survey finds that the American public is ill-informed about RSV, unfamiliar with its most common symptoms, and more hesitant to recommend a vaccine against it to pregnant people than to older ...

May 31, 2023 — Influenza epidemics, caused by influenza A or B viruses, result in acute respiratory infection. They kill half a million people worldwide every year. These viruses can also wreak havoc on animals, as ...

May 30, 2023 — Scientists found the virus strains that arrived in 2021 soon acquired genes from viruses in wild birds in North America. The resulting reassortant viruses have spread across the continent and caused ...

May 24, 2023 — A new study has shown that human T cells have an important role to play in controlling ...

May 22, 2023 — Researchers were able to identify changes in the accessibility (that is, the 'readability') of transposable elements. To do this, the researchers used an approach combining various sets of ...

May 11, 2023 — Much of what is now considered modern medicine originated as folk remedies or traditional, Indigenous practices. These customs are still alive today, and they could help address a variety of ...

Apr. 25, 2023 — Viruses like influenza A and Ebola invade human cells in a number of steps. Research teams investigated the final stages of viral penetration using electron tomography and computer simulations. ...

Apr. 19, 2023 — A new study shows that exposure to ultrafine particles (UFPs) during pregnancy enhances respiratory viral infection risk. According to the researchers, it is imperative that pregnant women in urban ...

Apr. 19, 2023 — A new study tracks arrival and spread of highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) decimating wild birds, impacting poultry and pushing up egg prices. The team found that the deadly impact on wild ...

Apr. 13, 2023 — New research has found that First Nations populations around the world are significantly more likely to be hospitalized and die from influenza compared to non-Indigenous ...

Apr. 6, 2023 — The U.S. Experienced an unprecedented number of group A streptococcal infections in children from October to December of 2022, which should alert physicians to check for the potentially deadly ...

Mar. 28, 2023 — Have a cough, sore throat and congestion? Any number of respiratory viruses could be responsible. Today, scientists report using a single-atom-thick nanomaterial to build a device that can ...

Mar. 22, 2023 — Memory B cells play a critical role to provide long-term immunity after a vaccination or infection. Researchers have now described a distinct and novel subset of memory B cells that predict ...

Mar. 22, 2023 — Researchers behind the UK's first pilot public health surveillance system based on analysis of wastewater say that routine monitoring at sewage treatment works could provide a powerful early ...

Mar. 15, 2023 — Researchers have found that an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was associated with the deaths of more than 330 New England harbor and gray seals along the North Atlantic coast in ...

Mar. 8, 2023 — Researchers discovered specific airway neurons in mice that alert the brain about the ...

Mar. 7, 2023 — Researchers are using glow-in-the-dark materials to enhance and improve rapid COVID-19 home ...

Feb. 24, 2023 — Influenza viruses are becoming increasingly resilient to medicines. For this reason, new active ingredients are needed. Important findings in this regard have been provided: for the virus to ...

Monday, July 24, 2023

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Monday, May 22, 2023

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Friday, February 24, 2023

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Monday, January 30, 2023

Monday, January 16, 2023

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Monday, December 26, 2022

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Friday, November 25, 2022

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Friday, October 28, 2022

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Monday, October 24, 2022

Monday, October 17, 2022

Thursday, October 6, 2022

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Monday, September 26, 2022

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Thursday, September 8, 2022

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Monday, July 25, 2022

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Friday, July 8, 2022

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Friday, June 24, 2022

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Friday, June 10, 2022

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Monday, June 6, 2022

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Friday, April 29, 2022

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Friday, April 8, 2022

Thursday, April 7, 2022

Monday, April 4, 2022

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Monday, March 28, 2022

Friday, March 25, 2022

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Thursday, March 10, 2022

Wednesday, March 9, 2022






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Azar calls for transparency in Ebola-like death in Tanzania | TheHill - The Hill

A Russian lab containing smallpox and Ebola exploded - Vox.com

Distinguishing viruses responsible for influenza-like illness