Study Shows Fever as Most Common Initial Symptom of Coronavirus Contagion

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A study conducted in China with 138 patients identified the main symptoms of the Covid-19, a disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Fever was the initial symptom observed by doctors and researchers as the most common, detected in 99 percent of patients.

More than half of the patients also experienced dry cough and fatigue. One-third of the patients analyzed in the research had difficulty breathing and muscle pain.

The average incubation period of the Covid-19 is five days. Only on the seventh day are people admitted to hospitals with suspected infection, according to a study at Wuhan University in China.

The fever tends to appear on the first day of the disease. The average hospitalization period is two and a half weeks for people who are cured of the disease.

Due to the breathing difficulty, which emerges on the fifth day of the disease cycle, artificial ventilators have become the critical point in the treatment of Covid-19, both for the public health system and the private health system.

Yet, 80 percent of people who contract the disease show mild or moderate symptoms, according to a survey by the China Centers for Disease Control. Nevertheless, 15 percent of cases may be severe and five percent critical.

Although the group at greatest risk of the disease is the elderly, people with chronic diseases or respiratory conditions may also experience severe Covid-19 symptoms, regardless of age.

Source: Exame