From CNN Health –
Digestive symptoms may be more common in coronavirus infections than previously thought as discovered in a small study released Wednesday. According to the findings as reported by CNN, symptoms such as diarrhea and a loss in appetite were the “chief compliant” in nearly half of more than 200 confirmed coronavirus cases.
The research suggests that during the coronavirus pandemic, clinicians may need to look beyond the major identified symptoms of cough and shortness of breath.
“That is because many patients infected with Coronavirus according to the study, may initially present to the hospitals with diarrhea, anorexia and vomiting-not necessarily with respiratory symptoms”.
Even when researchers excluded anorexia-a loss of appetite or aversion to food-they found that one in five coronavirus patients still came to the hospital with diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
In more severe cases, digestive symptoms also became more pronounced and patients with digestive problems were less likely to be discharged according to the study.
The research, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, looked at 204 Coronavirus confirmed cases in Hubei Province of China.
A small number of those patients –seven people- had digestive problems but no respiratory symptoms at all.
While researchers cautioned that target studies would be needed to confirm their findings, they warned that, “if clinicians solely monitor for respiratory symptoms to establish case definitions for COVID-19, they may miss cases initially presenting with extra-pulmonary symptoms, or the disease may not be diagnosed later until respiratory symptoms emerge”.
According to the researchers, that might explain why many health care workers in China were infected in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. The Nigerian National Coronavirus Disease Center, NCDC will do well to note this revelation.
#Savelives, end COVID-19
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