Some were apprehended during the discovery of the disease, others have been clearly identified since the start of the epidemic. The symptoms of Covid-19 are so varied that the diagnosis was sometimes complex in the first months of the appearance of this new coronavirus. At this stage, the recurrence of some of them however makes it possible to react faster for the care of patients. According to a study published this Wednesday in the Journal of Intern Medicine , headaches and loss of smell are the most common symptoms in European patients with mild to moderate form.
In fact, seven out of ten patients were affected by each of these two symptoms, according to the survey carried out on more than 1,400 patients with an infection confirmed by a screening test.
Far from systematic
The other most common symptoms were stuffy nose (67.8%), coughing (63.2%) and fatigue (63.3%), followed by muscle pain (62.5%), runny (60.1%) and loss of taste (54.2%). In contrast, fever was reported by less than half of the patients (45.4%).
This first epidemiological survey of European patients with a non-severe form of Covid-19 had just been launched by the International Federation of ENT Societies (IFOS), to assess the frequency of symptoms of loss of smell (anosmia) and taste (ageusia), reported by some patients. Their preliminary results published in early April had shown the frequency of these symptoms, little described until now by studies in Asia.
Their comprehensive study, carried out in five European countries (France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Switzerland), now confirms that the loss of smell is "a specific symptom" of Covid-19, and not only the consequence of nasal obstruction . "The ability of Covid-19 to invade the olfactory bulb and, therefore, the central nervous system, is probably a track" to explain the anosmia, points out the hospital Foch.
Successive genetic mutations of the virus
In China, on the other hand, anosmia and ageusia have been very little described in studies carried out on Asian patients, which mainly reported fever, cough and difficulty in breathing as symptoms of Covid-19. The IFOS study believes that this difference can be explained by the fact that the Chinese studies focused on hospitalized patients with more severe forms of infection.
The authors also hypothesize that successive genetic mutations in the coronavirus could be the cause of different symptoms, and that European populations have a higher level of angiotensin 2 converting enzyme, or ACE2, which acts as a coronavirus receptor.
Young people more prone to ENT disorders
They also point out that the frequency of symptoms varies according to age and sex. Thus, young patients more often have ENT disorders (ear, nose and throat) while older patients often have fever, fatigue and loss of appetite.
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Cough and fever are more common in men, women being more affected by loss of smell, headache and stuffy nose.