What are the typical symptoms of the new coronavirus pneumonia? Patients with new coronavirus pneumonia are mainly characterized by fever, dry cough and fatigue. Some patients also have nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat, decreased or loss of smell and taste, conjunctivitis, muscle pain, and diarrhea
Patients who have been previously vaccinated and those who are infected with the Omicron strain of the new coronavirus pneumonia have no obvious clinical symptoms and mild symptoms. In patients with clinical symptoms, the main signs are low to moderate fever, dry throat, sore throat, nasal congestion, runny nose and other symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection. Mild patients may present with low-grade fever, mild malaise, and impaired sense of smell and taste without pneumonia manifestations. Severe patients mostly develop respiratory distress and/or hypoxemia one week after the onset of the disease, and in severe cases, the disease may rapidly progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock, uncorrectable metabolic acidosis and coagulation dysfunction, and multiorgan failure, etc. In rare cases, patients may also suffer from central respiratory tract infections, such as sore throat, nasal congestion and runny nose. A very small number of patients may also have central nervous system involvement and ischemic necrosis of the extremities
It is worth noting that patients with severe and critical illnesses may have a low to moderate fever, or even no apparent fever. In addition to the above symptoms, multi-systemic manifestations may also occur: changes in the sense of smell, taste, some patients with smell, loss of taste or loss of smell as the first symptom, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed loss of smell or taste as a new symptom of the new coronavirus infection. Loss of smell is a potential screening symptom that can help identify suspected cases or guide quarantine protection
Therefore, it is recommended that patients with new, sudden onset loss of smell be considered as potentially infected with novel coronavirus. Digestive symptomsNew coronavirus-infected patients may show a variety of digestive symptoms, even as the first symptom, which needs to attract the attention of medical workers, early recognition, and appropriate protection and disinfection work. New coronavirus pneumonia-related digestive system symptoms can be manifested as decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, liver enzyme abnormalities, etc., and gastrointestinal bleeding can occur in severe cases.
Of these, diarrhea is the most common, with varying reports on the number, duration, and severity of diarrhea, which has been reported in the literature as an independent risk factor for predicting severe disease. Ocular SymptomsPatients with neocoronavirus may have ocular symptoms, mainly conjunctivitis, with a prevalence of 0.8% to 31.6%. The main ocular symptoms in neocoronavirus-infected patients are eye pain, itchiness, foreign body sensation, tearing, and excessive ocular discharge, which is mainly characterized by conjunctival congestion and conjunctival edema. Ocular symptoms may appear 1 to 7 days before fever or respiratory symptoms, or after fever and other symptoms. Neurologic symptoms Although patients with neocoronary pneumonia mainly present with respiratory symptoms, they may be accompanied by a variety of neurologic symptoms during the course of the disease, and some patients may even present with neurologic symptoms as the first symptom without typical respiratory symptoms. Patients with severe neocoronary pneumonia are more likely to develop ischemic stroke, which may further contribute to the poor prognosis of these patients, and some may die from stroke. The key to treatment is to prevent progression to severe disease in patients with mild disease. Patients with neocoronary pneumonia who present with acute ischemic stroke manifestations should be treated by experienced neurologists and infectious disease physicians*** who should be involved in the treatment, depending on the possible etiology. For patients with a combined hypercoagulable tendency (abnormally high D-dimer), it has been suggested that low molecular heparin anticoagulation should be given while weighing the risk of intracranial hemorrhage, but whether anticoagulation can reduce the risk of ischemic stroke needs to be further investigated. The electroencephalogram of some patients with neocoronavirus pneumonia may show abnormal epileptiform discharges or slow-wave activity. When patients with neocoronavirus pneumonia present with unexplained disturbances of consciousness, confusion or altered mental status, disturbances in arousal, and abnormal paroxysmal movements (myoclonus), the electroencephalogram may be used as part of the adjunctive diagnosis to assist in clarifying the cause of the disease. Guillain-Barre syndrome induced by novel coronavirus infection may manifest as acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, acute motor axonal neuropathy, and Miller-Fisher syndrome characterized by acute oculomotor paralysis, gait ****jet disorders, and diminished tendon reflexes. Skin manifestations in patients with neocoronary pneumonia are predominantly found on the trunk and extremities. Among the early cutaneous manifestations of neocoronary pneumonia, erythema and papules are the most common manifestations (36.4%), followed by papules (34.7%), and vascular lesions (15.3%) including petechiae, ecchymosis, purpura, frostbite appearance with Raynaud's phenomenon, cherry hemangiomas and purplish papules on the extremities, and urticaria (9.7%). In addition, it can also manifest as a chickenpox-like rash or even a scaly rash. The most prominent phenomenon in severe or advanced cases is "COVID toes", i.e., frostbite-like lesions, preferably on the extremities, with lesions initially appearing as reddish macules, similar to frostbite. 1 week or so, the lesions gradually deepen in color to become purple and flatten, and may resolve on their own without Raynaud's phenomenon on the affected fingers (toes). These lesions may be painful, sometimes itchy, sometimes asymptomatic, and may be the only symptom or late manifestation of novel coronavirus infection. Other manifestations have been reported as oral ulcers with gingivitis and blisters.