The scientists obtained data from the COVID Symptom Study app to evaluate whether they could use the presence of skin rashes to help diagnosis Covid-19 infections. Also, they performed an independent online survey of nearly 12,000 respondents to gather information on skin-related symptoms of Covid-19.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Skin rashes were significantly associated with the chances of a positive Covid-19 test result, with an increase in the probability of just under 1.7-times.
• Body rashes appeared more frequently than did rashes on the fingers and toes, but the rashes in the differing locations had comparable predictive value.
• For those with a Covid-19 infection, 17 percent had a rash as the first symptom, while 21 percent reported rashes as the only symptom.

If you are like me, you probably want to see pictures. I will not disappoint you as a catalog of 400 images is publicly available at covidskinsigns.com.

Skin rashes can be a point to a Covid-19 infection. Increased awareness for the general public and healthcare providers should aid in more efficient detection of disease

Reference:

Diagnostic value of cutaneous manifestation of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection A. Visconti Department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London, UK

The post Could a Rash be a Sign of Covid-19? appeared first on Medika Life.

Please don’t expect your doctor to be able to give you a once over and tell you if you do in fact have Covid-19 or not. It isn’t that simple. The symptoms are easy to confuse with a range of other conditions that share similar symptoms and that’s why your doctor will request a Covid-19 test for you. That will tell if you are in fact Covid-19 positive. You may even require a second test to confirm the results of the first one. It pays to be sure, as this will determine the treatment you receive.

So how and when should you seek help from a doctor, given that it is flu season right now in America. How do you know you dont simply have seasonal flu? You dont, is the easy answer, and thats why at-risk groups and you, if you experience certain symptoms we’ll discuss below, should seek immediate medical attention.

DONT LEAVE IT TILL THE LAST MINUTE. With Covid-19, delaying treatment can cost you your life if the disease progresses in your body.

What symptoms do I need to be on the lookout for?

The CDC lists a number of symptoms that you may begin to experience within 24 hours of contracting the coronavirus. These symptoms may indicate you are developing Covid-19.

• Fever or chills ( Call your doctor if your temperature is 103 F (39.4 C) or higher)
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

So now you see the problem. These symptoms are almost identical to influenza symptoms and you will need to make a judgement call in terms of how you feel and how rapidly your condition deteriorates. Don’t wait until you are experiencing respiratory trouble (struggling to breathe), rather get in touch with your doctor or healthcare provider sooner.

We can offer you two tools to assess yourself at home, the one is called Isabel and is a DDX (Differential Diagnostic) tool used by doctors to check symptoms, the other is from the CDC website. Both are free and easy to use and you could even consider trying both. Please understand these tools are only as reliable as the data you input and shouldn’t be considered a substitute for medical opinion. There are merely helpful tools.

Isabel is integrated on the Medika site, you can find the diagnosis page here and the CDC symptom checker is embedded below for both English and Spanish users.

When to seek emergency medical attention

Look for emergency warning signs* for COVID-19. If someone is showing any of these signs, seek emergency medical care immediately:

• Trouble breathing
• Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
• New confusion
• Inability to wake or stay awake
• Bluish lips or face

This list is not all possible symptoms. Please call your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you.

Call 911 or call ahead to your local emergency facility: Always tell the operator that you are seeking care for someone who has or may have COVID-19. It’s far better to call ahead so you can be given instructions about visitor protocols for suspected infections and this ensures you receive prompt and proper care on arrival.

What is the difference between Influenza (Flu) and COVID-19?

Influenza (Flu) and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. COVID-19 is caused by infection with a new coronavirus (called SARS-CoV-2), and flu is caused by infection with influenza viruses.

COVID-19 seems to spread more easily than flu and causes more serious illnesses in some people. It can also take longer before people show symptoms and people can be contagious for longer. More information about differences between flu and COVID-19 is available in the different sections below.

Because some of the symptoms of flu and COVID-19 are similar, it may be hard to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone, and testing may be needed to help confirm a diagnosis.

The post An Extensive List of Symptoms for Covid-19 appeared first on Medika Life.

We need to talk about what to do if you’ve been in contact with someone with COVID-19 or begin to experience symptoms. Our gut instinct is to run off and get tested. But for the majority of those with viral symptoms, this is the wrong thing to do.

Testing may verify Covid-19, but a positive test for Covid-19 does not change the management. A negative does not change the recommendations either.

When a nonelderly patient without underlying medical conditions or respiratory distress has COVID-19 or has been exposed, the recommendations are home quarantine. Regardless of the test results, the management is two weeks of home isolation and supportive measures such as fluids, rest, and acetaminophen.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is a new virus for which we don’t have a vaccine, effective medication, or baseline immunity.

What counts as exposure?

You have been exposed after any close contact with anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 or anyone who has symptoms of the disease. According to the CDC close contact means:

• You were within 6 feet of someone who has COVID-19 for at least 15 minutes
• You provided care at home to someone who is sick with COVID-19
• You had direct physical contact with the person (touched, hugged, or kissed them)
• You shared eating or drinking utensils
• They sneezed, coughed, or somehow got respiratory droplets on you

What do you do after an exposure?

Stay home and monitor your health.

• Stay home for 14 days after your last contact with a person who has COVID-19
• You do not need to get tested automatically. You and your doctor should make testing decisions together. After exposure or if you have symptoms, you will be placed on a 14-day quarantine regardless of the test results. Going to get a test exposes you and others to more potential spread. Contact a medical provider to determine if testing is warranted and to make arrangements for testing according to local availability and capacity.
• Watch for fever (100.4◦F), cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms of COVID-19
• If possible, self-isolate away others, especially people who are at higher risk for getting very sick from COVID-19
• Look for emergency COVID-19 warning signs and seek immediate emergency medical care.
• Communicate with your doctor to evaluate any new onset of symptoms
• Avoid public transportation, ride-sharing, or taxis
• If you become sick, wear a face cover over your nose and mouth if you must be around other people. Masks should not be placed on young children under the age of two.

What are emergency warning signs indicating the need for immediate care?

The CDC provides guidance on when to seek emergency medical attention. If someone shows any of these signs, seek emergency medical care immediately after first calling ahead to let the office or hospital know you are coming.

• Trouble breathing
• Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
• New confusion
• Inability to wake or stay awake
• Bluish lips or face

What do I do if my child has been exposed or has symptoms?

Having a sick child is terrifying for parents. Parents’ first instincts may be to take your child to an Emergency Department to get tested, but management at home is safe in most pediatric cases. The treatment is isolation, fluids, and rest. The concept that testing does not change management is especially challenging when parents are faced with a sick child.

Emergency care is needed if the child shows severe illness symptoms such as high fever or very low body temperature, shortness of breath, fainting, or confusion. If a trip to the emergency department is required, remember to call ahead and let the staff know you are coming.

Otherwise, the child should receive supportive treatment at home. Parents should contact their doctor or pediatrician for advice and continued monitoring of symptoms.

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

Many patients have no symptoms at all. The safest course of action is for every American to live as though we are asymptomatic carriers. The sad truth is any one of us may be shedding the virus and putting others at risk.

About 80% of COVID-19 cases show mild symptoms or are asymptomatic. Symptoms include typical viral problems such as fever, body aches, dry cough, fatigue, chills, congestion, runny nose, and sore throat.

Many develop gastrointestinal symptoms such as loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Others develop neurological symptoms such as loss of smell, loss of taste, muscle weakness, numbness, tinglingly in the hands and feet, dizziness, confusion, delirium, seizures, and stroke.

Approximately 20% of COVID-19 patients develop severe symptoms requiring hospitalization. Severe symptoms include high fever, severe cough, shortness of breath, pneumonia, and low blood pressure. Those over age 60 and people with underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, respiratory disease, or hypertension are at higher risk of developing severe illness.

The case fatality rate is decreasing, indicating we are getting better at treating those who get sick. But as testing increases around the country, we must remember the positivity rate is also rising. The increase in cases is not due to the increased testing capacity. A higher percentage of people getting tested have the virus.

Recent data from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas shows an increase in admissions of young patients without risk factors. This shift towards the younger and healthier is an important reminder to all of us to continue handwashing, social distancing, and wearing a mask.This Is the Single Easiest Way to Help During the Pandemic.

How do you get tested to know if you have COVID-19 right now?

To detect the virus, a test must be performed to identify viral genetic material. A PCR test, from saliva or a nasal swab, is used to detect the virus’s active presence. There are multiple technologies available in the US, and each has varying degrees of accuracy.

The key thing to know is a positive test is reliable. If a test result comes back positive, it is almost certain that the person has COVID-19. If a test returns a negative result, then you are not off the hook.A negative test does mean you do not have COVID-19.

Regardless of your test results, if you have COVID-like symptoms self-isolate at home, rest, hydrate, and wear a mask when interacting with family members.

If your symptoms do worsen, contact your doctor for further guidance.

How do you get tested to know if you had COVID-19 in the past?

Our bodies develop antibodies after we are exposed to a virus. Antibodies are special proteins our immune system uses to fight infection. We are hopeful that our immense systems will develop neutralizing antibodies to provide long term protection against coronavirus. We have not proven if this is true with COVID-19, but many studies are in progress.

Blood tests can be done to try and detect Coronavirus specific antibodies. Unlike nasal swabs and saliva tests, blood tests are not used to detect active infection. The antibodies do not appear until at least 5–10 days after infection. Antibody testing detects a past infection.

People who have neutralizing antibodies may donate plasma. Antibodies from plasma can be used to treat some patients sick with COVID-19. We are hopeful these antibodies will prove to provide long term immunity.

Each day scientists learn more about this virus. Until we develop a vaccine, effective medication, or a cure, we all must do our part. Social distancing, hand hygiene, and face coverings are our most effective tools to protect ourselves and each other.

These steps may be a small inconvenience, but these minor alterations may potentially save someone else’s life.

We all must do our part.

The post You and Your Child Were Exposed to COVID-19; Now What? appeared first on Medika Life.

An expert, Dr. Bruce Aylward, from the World Health Organization, is of a similar mind. But there is hope for stemming the spread now.

Patients who have “recovered” from the virus produce antibodies in their blood plasma. These antibodies may protect them from further infection and can be used as a treatment for other current patients. But this, also, is questionable.

If the antibodies provide any protection, they might be a stop-gap measure before the availability of a vaccine. How long will that protection last before a viable treatment is devised?

Vaccines currently in clinical trials around the world may be one response to stave off contracting the virus, but not everyone will be vaccinated. The lack of total world immunization will result in clusters of either asymptomatic or symptomatic individuals spreading the disease in unprotected areas. Then, too, no one knows if the vaccines will work or how long their effectiveness will last.

To extinguish an ongoing epidemic and obviate the need for any other measures (e.g., social distancing), the vaccine has to have an efficacy of at least 80% with a 75% vaccine coverage.

As vaccines become available and are introduced into world populations, those who have had COVID19 may not benefit from them. Cleared and identified as recovered, these patients are now exhibiting a wide-ranging array of previously unknown symptoms. Could a vaccine negate these symptoms in a patient now recovered? Are the symptoms permanent?

Unusual, long-lasting or transient symptoms

The lungs were thought to be the primary area of attack of the virus, but it soon became apparent that there were other, unusual and unnoticed, manifestations of the disease. Only now is the medical community coming to grips with a virus that appears to come in more than one form and with new symptoms.

COVID19 attacks the entire body in its process that affects all the organs in the body in its mechanism causing blood clotting.

Scientists think these clotting complications may stem from the virus’s attack on cells that line the blood vessels. When the virus attacks blood vessel cells, inflammation increases, and blood begins to form clots, big and small. These blood clots can travel all over the body and wreak havoc on organs, perpetuating a vicious cycle of thromboinflammation.

Skin Changes

In Spain, a study of patients found “…skin manifestations in 18 patients in Italy with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), describing “erythematous rash,” “widespread urticaria,” and “chickenpox-like vesicles.”

Rashes, known as COVID toes, presented as discolorations of pink or purple, developed toward the ends of patients’ toes. As they began to appear, they were a further sign of the virus’ encroachment on parts of the body unassociated with the lungs.

Dr. Sarah Young of The Cleveland Clinic noted, “The symptoms of COVID-19 are evolving, but do not yet include rash. At this point, when we see rashes in patients, we should still follow the standard protocol to determine — based on symptoms, risk factors and exposures — if screening for COVID-19 is appropriate.”

Hair Loss Is Noted

The link between hair loss and COVID is just starting to be reported and recognized in research. Sara Hogan, MD, a health sciences clinical instructor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, says this timeline makes sense because hair loss often happens to patients 3 to 5 months after a stressful illness or experience.

Heart Damage

The circulatory system and the heart show damage caused by COVID19. In the heart, one study found “our findings reveal that significant cardiac involvement occurs independently of the severity of original presentation and persists beyond the period of acute presentation, with no significant trend toward reduction of imaging or serological findings during the recovery period.”

Initial symptoms of COVID19 may not include lung issues but “evidence of myocardial injury in 20–40% of hospitalized cases manifesting as cardiac chest pain, fulminant heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and cardiac death. Indeed, symptoms of cardiac chest pain and palpitations are the presenting features in some patients.”

Abnormal blood clotting was also noted. The clots can cause stroke, psychosis, and a dementia-like condition. Usually occurring elsewhere in the body, the clots travel to the lung, causing death. In covid19, this wasn’t the case.

So it’s not the pulmonary embolism which is the major cause of severe illness but the inflammation of the blood vessels and a change in the clotting system of the blood.

The Long-Term Effects Now Known

The litany of symptoms associated with COVID19 may still require additions, but we do know that damage is in the whole body. The lungs may be cratered and require transplants, but other symptoms may not be as apparent at this time.

COVID19 also perpetuated its damage via neurologic and psychiatric syndromes. “Altered mental status was the second most common presentation, comprising encephalopathy or encephalitis and primary psychiatric diagnoses, often occurring in younger patients.” Symptoms included psychosis, delirium, visual hallucinations, and peripheral nerve damage.

An additional concern has now cropped us, known as the “post-COVID19 syndrome,” concern has been expressed by Dr. Fauci. The symptoms in many of these unrecovered patients are “highly suggestive” of myalgic encephalomyelitis, the disabling illness also commonly called chronic fatigue syndrome or ME/CFS. “This is something we really need to seriously look at,” said Fauci.

The appearance of some of these symptoms as a result of COVID19 isn’t new. After the 1918 influenza pandemic, approximately one million people were diagnosed with a brain disorder called encephalitis lethargica or “sleepy sickness.” It was seen again in the 20s and 30s.

The cohort of worldwide patients recovering or being reinfected with the virus is growing, and new symptoms will crop up. The task now is to recognize neurologic and psychiatric disorders related to COVID19 and take appropriate measures. But the question of what are “appropriate measures” remains to be answered with trial-and-error efforts against a quickly morphing disease.

The post The Long Arm of COVID19 appeared first on Medika Life.