Penelope Canonico
07/31/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 07/31/2021 6:00 AM
"What medicine can I take, doctor, to relieve the flu?"
Thinking that this
discomfort in the throat or runny nose
can be synonymous with "cold", "flu state" or "nasal congestion".
First
mistake
.
Do not swab because the picture
is not accompanied by fever.
Second mistake.
"Today, everything is Covid until proven otherwise
", underline the specialists.
“The new cases of coronavirus that are being detected can report the usual symptoms or
others much more
nonspecific
.
These divergences with the beginning of the pandemic are due to the fact that
the new variants no longer come with the symptoms of the original strain
.
"The problem is that patients continue to
think of fever as the main warning sign
when, in reality, today it is no longer necessary to have it
to think about Covid.
The disease can occur with
muscle aches, colds or a runny nose,
without presenting a fever,
"warns Arnaldo Casiró, head of Infectious Diseases at Hospital Álvarez.
The concern among doctors was installed in the offices (face-to-face and virtual) for several weeks, when the new variants began to circulate.
The stalking of the Delta
(60% more contagious than its predecessor), which is already circulating in the community in some neighboring countries and here we are studying whether there are autochthonous cases, heightened concern about the possibility of it becoming the main source of new infections.
Vehicle testing center in the Costa Salguero complex.
Photo Maxi Failla
Is that the preponderant symptomatology of the new variant - which was identified for the first time in India - consists
of headaches
(if it differs or persists more than usual),
nasal secretions and colds
. He displaced the fever and cough from the podium. Even the classic signs reported since the beginning of the pandemic, such as
loss of smell or taste, are less common
.
There are no doubts among the experts interviewed by
Clarín
.
The lesson is consulting and testing.
“The main fear is that a large percentage (cannot be quantified) of those patients who self-medicate and are not tested may have Covid.
By not swabbing, they continue to infect at home or in other areas
because the epidemiological chain is broken.
The virus continues to circulate
”, analyzes Casiró.
And he tells this medium one of the many cases he receives daily: “A patient consulted me for
bodily pain
.
I questioned him a bit more and discovered that one of his family members (cohabitant) had started with muscle aches a week ago.
He continued leading a normal life, and when I sent them to swab, there were already five adults and two children
infected in the family.
No one thought it could be Covid ”.
Gisela Gianetti is a clinical researcher in Mautalen and is in charge of the trial of the plant vaccine at the Medicago laboratory.
The expert classifies
two extreme situations
.
On the one hand, there are people who go through a symptomatic picture that they play down, thinking that it is a common cold.
On the other, those who make an early medical consultation.
"
You do not have to wait until you have a fever to consult.
The symptoms today are less noticeable.
Anyone can get a headache or a common cold.
No matter how small the symptom,
the diagnosis should not be left to personal criteria
but requires a comprehensive medical evaluation ", argues Gianetti.
Why is Covid confused with a flu-like state?
The flu and Covid share similarities and differences.
Viral, respiratory and contagious diseases caused by different viruses.
Influenza and SARS-CoV-2.
“Before the pandemic, the patient who consulted for an itchy throat was
diagnosed with pharyngitis
, but the paradigm changed.
Today, that same case
leads to
a
swab
”, Javier Parodi, a clinical physician, begins by explaining.
With the advance of vaccination, the symptoms begin to be milder.
Photo Juano Tesone
And he continues: “Covid is usually associated with fever and respiratory distress.
But nevertheless,
As the vaccination progresses, the symptoms begin to be mild
and resemble those of the flu.
For this reason, they should do a swab to rule out that it is Covid and prevent the virus from circulating ”.
"Covid is not the same,"
confirms Alejandro Andersson, director of the Buenos Aires Neurology Institute.
He argues that all patients with symptoms compatible with coronavirus must be tested and that attention must be paid to the Zoe Covid study (the largest in the world) that was carried out in the United Kingdom.
In it, infected people registered information about their symptoms through an application.
“
Headache and runny nose
are now two of the main indicators of
a Delta variant infection
, especially among the young and those who are partially vaccinated.
The symptoms that we previously knew have changed as the virus changes, "he says.
What do the experts advise?
Casiró emphasizes that the situation is only reversed if people become aware that
any symptom that is out of the ordinary, no matter how minimal, can be Covid
and should be considered that way.
"This possibility is only ruled out with a negative swab," he remarks.
And he clarifies: "With symptoms, you should go to the UFUs (Febrile Emergency Units) or to a Detect operation because in those places both the antigen and the PCR are practiced."
Row to get a swab at the Sanatorio La Trinidad de Ramos Mejía.
Photo Juano Tesone
Gianetti also highlights the importance of maintaining care and hygiene measures
such as
the use of a chinstrap and social distancing
because "they are the only tools that have been shown to be effective in fighting Covid, while progressing with the inoculation plan."
In the same vein, Parodi observes that reports from different parts of the world teach that to deal with the Delta variant one must have a
complete vaccination schedule
.
"The fact that
only 14% of the population received the second dose
worries me because we do not know what effects this new variant can generate in patients who have a single puncture," he explains.
"The design of the vaccine will have to be adapted to the new variants that may arise in the future," Andersson completes.
MG
Look also
Sputnik V, "stranded": it has been without approval in Europe for five months and the WHO does not authorize it
The Government plans to continue vaccinating adolescents without comorbidities with the doses of Moderna
