British doctors say common cold is a sign of COVID-19, AIIMS President disagrees

As many as 140 general practitioners and health care professionals had demanded that the UK Covid-19 case definition and test criteria should also include typical symptoms of common cold. They claimed that patients usually experience common cold symptoms like sore throat, a runny nose and headaches before they test positive for coronavirus.

By: Longjam Dineshwori | | Updated: February 14, 2021 4:33 pm

UK physicians suggested that runny nose and cold should be included in Covid-19 test criteria.

A group of general physicians in the UK recently cautioned that common cold symptoms should be treated as signs of COVID-19. They claimed that patients usually experience typical symptoms of common cold like sore throat, a runny nose and headaches before they test positive for coronavirus. But Y.K. Gupta, President of AIIMS, Bhopal and Jammu, doesn’t agree completely. He told IANS that common cold cannot be 100 per cent termed as sign of coronavirus. But he also insisted that people should not drop their guard yet and continue to wear mask and maintain social distancing. Also Read - COVID-19 new symptoms: These 3 could be early indicators of coronavirus

As many as 140 east London general practitioners (GPs) and health care professionals had reportedly written an open letter to chief medical officer Chris Whitty and Susan Hopkins of Public Health England, demanding to list common cold under possible COVID symptoms. They said that COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms could be unintentionally spreading the virus thinking it to be just another seasonal cold. Also Read - Common cold may not be enough to identify COVID infection in India: Experts

Cough, high temperature, and loss of smell or taste are generally considered as most common symptoms of Covid-19, and patients with these symptoms are usually referred for Covid-19 test. But the physicians suggested that the UK Covid-19 case definition and test criteria should also include coryza (runny nose) and cold. Also Read - Another new coronavirus variant found in Japan: What is it and how worried should we be?

Even those with mild symptoms should self-isolate during the first five days when they are most likely to be infectious, they added in the letter published in the British Medical Journal.

Classic symptoms of COVID-19

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, dry cough, and tiredness. Less common symptoms include loss of taste or smell, aches and pains, headache, sore throat, nasal congestion, red eyes, diarrhoea, or a skin rash.

People with severe COVID‐19 disease may experience shortness of breath, loss of appetite, confusion, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, and high temperature (above 38 °c).

The UN health agency recommend those who experience fever and/or cough associated with difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain or pressure, or loss of speech or movement to seek immediate medical care.

But the WHO’s list of COVID symptoms also include irritability, confusion, reduced consciousness (sometimes associated with seizures), anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, neurological complications such as strokes, brain inflammation, delirium and nerve damage.

Strange coronavirus symptoms

There are also reports of patients experiencing strange coronavirus symptoms like Covid tongues and mouth ulcers, which are not included in the WHO list.

Last month, Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, cautioned that he is seeing an increasing number of COVID-19 patients with such odd symptoms.

“One in five people with Covid still present with less common symptoms that don’t get on the official PHE (Public Health England) list – such as skin rashes. Seeing increasing numbers of Covid tongues and strange mouth ulcers. If you have a strange symptom or even just headache and fatigue stay at home!” Spector wrote on Twitter.

Commenting on Spector’s post, one Twitter user said that she also had a strange set of tongue markings, but her GP diagnosed it as geographic tongue.

Other strange symptoms associated with COVID-19 include bruises and lesions on the toes, also called Covid toes, and pain in the testicles.

Published : February 14, 2021 4:25 pm | Updated:February 14, 2021 4:33 pm

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