Emilia vexler
05/14/2021 6:01 AM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 05/14/2021 6:01 AM
The journalist Diego Brancatelli recounted a "rare" symptom he had when his coronavirus condition worsened.
On Twitter, minutes later, and without a "crack", tweets appeared from those who had coronavirus and
suffered the same
: persistent hiccups.
To other recovered people, it seemed anecdotal and they enlarged the thread with messages like
"that's the only thing I didn't have
.
"
From the onset of the pandemic, what began with a simple triad of clinical manifestations such as
fever, cough and sore throat
, led to loss of color in the fingers or toes and conjunctivitis.
The spectrum of how Covid can manifest in the body widened and generated confusion among those who only had one of all these symptoms.
What does science say about hiccups?
Is it another symptom of the infection?
Will he soon be added to the suspicion list?
Brancatelli (44) was hospitalized for
bilateral pneumonia
.
He was discharged a few days ago and in various interviews he spoke of the usual manifestations of Covid.
Those described by the World Health Organization (WHO), such as coughing, fatigue and shortness of breath.
But in dialogue with Pablo Vilouta, his colleague and colleague from Intratables, the panelist focused on the hiccups.
One hiccup every three seconds.
"One wished not to have Covid, well done, I had it. Afterwards, not having symptoms, nothing happens. But the next day: fever. Afterwards I had a good time, they did a CT scan, everything fine, and at four, five days I start with coughing and hiccups.
Three full days from waking up to going to bed
. Unbearable: hiccups, hiccups, every three seconds. "
Ángel de Brito,
host
of
Los Angeles de la Mañana,
passed on his program
Brancatelli interview and supported him.
"This hiccup I had heard in other cases. It is rare but many people are mixed with a cough or hiccup alone but hey, each story is different," he said.
With hiccups everything sounds like "diaphragm", but you also have to think about "brain".
The renowned neurologist Conrado Estol explains it to
Clarín
.
For Conrado Estol, it is a symptom that must be paid attention to.
"There are several reports (in the world). I see two reports of a 64-year-old man, one 62, in Egypt. Another, a young man in his twenties. They had hiccups as the only manifestation. thorax and see the characteristic change (the "frosted glass" in the lungs) and end up confirming that they all had Covid, "he starts.
Why would hiccups be a symptom of Covid?
Why do you have to think about the brain? "The mechanism of hiccups is the contraction of the diaphragm, the muscle that is inside the abdomen, and the muscle that supplies it is the phrenic nerve. If the phrenic nerve is irritated ..., could the Covid invade the phrenic nerve? It can cause
the diaphragm to contract in a spasmodic way
and what we know as hiccups or, medically,
singult occurs,
"explains Estol. None of this is exhaustive. And, he clarifies, within the scientific problems about this pandemic, he would not write a paper on hiccups. But he does find it interesting.
"Or will the Covid affect the diaphragm? Why only that muscle and in that way? It's rare," the expert wonders.
Several reports, as he says, draw attention to this very atypical manifestation.
The two most important refer to the cases that the neurologist described above.
The Cook County Department of Emergency Medicine in Illinois, United States, reported an unusual case of coronavirus in April 2020: a patient whose
main symptom
appeared to be hiccups.
It's that 62-year-old man who had come to the watch after hiccuping for four straight days.
The case was part of a study published in August last year by that entity.
But an
earlier
paper
, published in July in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine and by Garrett Prince and Michelle Sergel, doctors and researchers from the same department of medicine from the other research, already spoke of
"Persistent hiccups as an atypical symptom of Covid-19 "
.
This is the case of the 64-year-old man who also came to the guard with persistent hiccups and, like the 62-year-old man, was infected.
That study was not peer-reviewed.
Again, nothing is conclusive regarding hiccups and its relationship to the coronavirus.
Studies that define it are lacking
.
Still, Estol allows it to be investigated as a symptom.
"Hiccups are an infrequent symptom, but it could be said, specific, of coronavirus. For example, the loss of taste and smell is frequent and
also specific
. If you lose them today it is Covid until proven otherwise. it would be: if a person shows up on duty saying 'I have hiccups since yesterday' although there may be other causes, the doctors should treat him with protective equipment and do a rapid test or PCR, "he concludes.
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