The latest update of COVID-19 in the UK bring the total to 73,758 infection cases and 9,875 deaths with figures increasing by the hour. By Easter Sunday, the death rate will more than likely hit a staggering 10,000 deaths. Monitoring potential symptoms and taking the necessary precautions is critical during these difficult times. There are four warning symptoms found in one’s stomach. What are they?
Issues with digestion including diarrhoea, vomiting, loss of appetite and pain could all be potential symptoms of COVID-19, a study has found.
The study involved 204 patients in Wuhan, China and found 48.5 percent of the patients went to hospital with digestive issues as their main ailment.
Most of the patients did not have any underlying digestive diseases to start with. Loss of appetite and diarrhoea were the main symptoms for patients exhibiting digestive issues.
Other digestive issues included vomiting and abdominal pain.
Authors of the study wrote: “With the evolution of the pandemic and the accumulation of case data, we are now able to describe the initial clinical presentations and chief complaint of patients with COVID-19; our experience is revealing, in that digestive symptoms are very common.
“However, further larger sample studies are needed to confirm these findings.”
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cientists for Huazhong University urged doctors to consider digestive problems as a warning sign of COVID-19.
Failing to spot these symptoms may pose more danger as one unwittingly spreads the infection. Scientists said: “Importantly, digestive symptoms are common in the community and most instances of new-onset diarrhoea, nausea or vomiting are not from COVID-19.
“Nonetheless, clinicians should recognise that new-onset, acute digestive symptoms in a patient with possible COVID-19 contact should at least prompt consideration of the illness, particularly during times of high COVID-19 incidence and prevalence.
In addition, patients, with digestive symptoms took longer to report for medical care, suggesting that COVID-19 was not initially recognised in these patients leading to delayed diagnosis.”
Doctor 4 U GP Dr Diana Gall also added that patients with coronavirus may find subtle changes to their gastrointestinal systems before any other obvious symptoms.
Some people may find their stools are looser than normal, while others could find they go more often. There is no ‘normal’ amount of times to go to the toilet, but everyone knows roughly how many times they end up passing stools and if you find that you are visiting the loo more frequently it could be a warning symptom.
Dr Peter Horby, Oxford University professor said: “Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population that viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them.
“Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1,000 people.
“Here, we’re talking about a virus where we don’t understand fully the severity spectrum but its possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two percent.”