We Were Focusing On Fever As A Predominant Symptom Of COVID-19 But It Is Not, Finds AIIMS Study
Fever, dry cough, tiredness and sore throat are often described as some of the most common symptoms of COVID-19.
Out of this, fever has been the most prominent, and a temperature check to make sure that you don't have fever has become the norm now to get entry to shops to railway stations and airports.
But turns out, fever is not the most prominent COVID-19 symptom.?
A study conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) claims that fever was never a predominant symptom of COVID-19.
The study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR) of the Indian Council of Medical Research was conducted on 144 patients who were admitted to AIIMS Delhi between March 23 and April 15. It states that during that phase, only 17 percent of the COVID-19 patients were found to have a fever.
The study titled Clinico-demographic profile & hospital outcomes of COVID-19 patients admitted at a tertiary care centre in north India?stated that ¡°Fever was present in only 17 per cent of our patients, which was far less compared to other reports across the globe, including the Chinese cohort in whom 44 per cent had fever at the time of presentation and 88 per cent developed fever during the hospital stay.
¡°Most symptomatic patients had mild respiratory symptoms such as nasal symptoms, throat irritation and cough, which was different from the reported symptoms in other studies.
It further stated that 44 percent of the COVID-19 patients were asymptomatic when they were admitted to the hospital. While the presence of a large number of asymptomatic patients is welcome news, since it indicates they were immune to the infection, it also means that there were several silent spreaders of the infection in the country.
Majority of the patients were treated with supportive care and required only symptomatic treatment i.e., antihistamines (48.6%), vitamin C (47.2%) and paracetamol (20.8%). Azithromycin was prescribed to 29 (20.1%) patients, HCQ was administered to 27 (18.7%) patients and 11 (7.6%) received both HCQ and azithromycin. One patient was prescribed antitubercular therapy on a clinicoradiological basis.
Only five patients required oxygen supplementation, four required intensive care, one required mechanical ventilation and mortality occurred in two patients. The patients were recovering in 16-18 days, said the research.
