As on today, all the world is under the grip of covid-19. Its coronavirus that threatened all world humanity and affects every individual. Now everyone wanted to know the sign, symptoms and better way of prevention from coronavirus.
All though there is a rising death toll every day, we should not fear of infection. As in case of all viral infection, in this infection also there is no more role of antiviral treatment. Or on the other hand, it seems that the current antiviral drugs which we have, not acting effectively against these covid-19.
Hence the mainstay of management is supportive care and symptomatic treatment. In this situation, a major role is played by our immunity system which comes into action to fight this infection.
Coronavirus signs and symptoms.
The most common symptoms are
- Fever
- Cough
- Dyspnoea (Difficulty in breathing )
- Myalgia ( muscle pain )
- Fatigue.
Less common symptoms include:
- Anorexia ( loss of appetite )
- Sputum production
- Sore throat
- Confusion
- Dizziness
- Headache
- Rhinorrhoea ( running nose )
- Chest pain
- Haemoptysis (Blood in sputum )
- Diarrhoea
- Nausea/vomiting
- Abdominal pain.
Approximately 90% of patients present with more than one symptom.
Patients may present with
nausea or diarrhoea 1 to 2 days prior to the onset of fever and breathing difficulties.
Most children present with mild symptoms, without fever or pneumonia. But they may have signs of pneumonia on x-ray chest despite having minimal or no symptoms.
Investigations
Investigations in all patients suspected of coronavirus infection.
- Pulse oximetry
- ABG (to detect hypercarbia or acidosis)
- FBC ( full blood count )
- Coagulation profile
- serum procalcitonin and C-reactive protein
- Serum troponin
- Serum lactate dehydrogenase
- Serum creatine kinase.
- Blood and sputum cultures
- Collect lower respiratory tract specimens
(sputum, endotracheal aspirate, bronchoalveolar lavage)
- Collect lower respiratory tract specimens (sputum, endotracheal aspirate, bronchoalveolar lavage)
- Blood, urine, and stool specimens may also be used to monitor for the presence of the virus.
AS you see a lot of investigations needed to carry out in this infection, hence it is beyond the limit of a common man of India to spend in private hospital treatment. In India, people have a habit of going to a private hospital for all ailments.
But for the case of coronavirus infection you must have to go to the government hospital where the facility of isolation and treatment made available. And it’s free of cost to all.
How to prevent
As all we know prevention is better than cure. In this case, it perfectly fits. We all should keep in mind all these points.
- Wear a mask in public contact.
- Avoid going in crowd places
- Avoid touching commonplaces of use like lift buttons, door handles, railings,
- Keep hand sanitizer and use it after every public contact.
- Never touch your mouth, Nose, Eyes with your fingers without hand wash or hand sensitization.
If you are patient, please follow the guidelines to stop its spread.
- Always wear a mask.
- Throw your mask in the tight separate dust bin.
- Always disinfect the surface around you with disinfectant chemicals.
- Live in isolation unless your infection subsides. Better get admitted in isolation ward.
Why handwash
Knowingly or unknowingly we touch our mouth, nose, eyes with our fingers more than 50 times each day. And this is the main way to contact infection to us. Because when in public places we touch many things like doors, handles, railings, buttons, chairs, tables, vending machines etc. With such contact, we may have infectious material which left by any unknown infectious person while using public properties. When we touch our fingers, hand, palm to our eyes, nose, lips, there are chances of passing the infection to our lungs which is primary sites to harbour infection.
To avoid this we must hand wash whenever possible. And if not hand wash at least we must use alcohol-based hand sanitizer to safeguard our hands.
Hence the role of simple hand wash is major. We must teach our children and aware our society about this.
Why wear the mask
AS we know all viral chest infected patient have cough as the primary symptom. All these patient spreads infectious virus in surrounding air by coughing droplets with viral loads. Whenever we breathe in such air, we may contact disease directly. Hence to make a barrier while breathing we must wear a mask whenever we go in public places.
There is no need to wear a costly mask. A simple mask will also do the job. But mask need to be changed at regular interval. At least once daily. If you don’t have a mask, you can use your handkerchief as a mask.
Don’t be careless
When government advising not to travel abroad, you should not.
You should not participate unnecessarily in public gatherings.
Avoid infected person. Help him to keep in isolation. Encourage him for isolation.
If your staff has an infection or suspected to be infectious, give him official leave unless he has recovered.
Don’t spread rumours
In India people are fascinated by all type of rumours. Hence please understand that because of such practices infection should not spread.
- By stopping the eating of non-veg, we will not catch the infection. Stopping eating of non-veg is not related in India for spread but only depending on this cannot safeguard you from the disease.
- Taking hot beverages and alcohol is beneficial. No, This will not help you as protection.
Who are at more risk
Child and old age persons are at more risk because both they have a low level of immunity. Hence please cautious about this age group. If possible stop sending your kids to school. Stop playing with a child who has some viral infection.
What should I do if I have viral fever
If you have a viral fever, then please check that
- Whether you have visited any known infected city?
- Whether you have been to abroad? ( China, UAE, Thailand, Malaysia, Eron, Italy etc.
- Whether you are in contact with infected person, where you are working. Eg. Healthcare services, any corporate office, Taxi services, Tourist guide, etc.
If anything fits for you, then you must contact the authorised coronavirus testing centre.
If not, means you may have a routine viral infection. Still,you must contact a physician for a check-up.