Symptoms and treatment of coronavirus in humans

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

Do you know the characteristic symptoms when a person is found to have a coronavirus COVID-19? Let's look at the possible treatment options, as well as read the instructions for home care with a photo and description.

First symptoms

The clinical picture of the disease in a person when infected with the coronavirus COVID-19 can manifest itself without symptoms or easily, as with a simple SARS. And only in 16% it is really difficult, requiring specific outpatient treatment.

If the infection descends into the respiratory tract, causing a severe form of SARS, then in 2-3% of cases its development ends in death.

When you find the first symptoms of a cold in yourself or your child, you cannot engage in self-diagnosis and self-medication.

Most often, SARS caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 develops in people over the age of 50 or with chronic diseases associated with immunodeficiency (these include HIV, AIDS, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease).

During a pandemic, it is better to play it safe once again and immediately consult a doctor than to wait for the onset of severe intoxication.

The first symptoms of coronavirus:

1. Fever and chills (37, 5 ° C and above).
2. Cough (dry or wet)
3. Shortness of breath and shortness of breath.
4. Pressure and pain in the chest.
5. Vomiting and nausea.
6. Cyanotic lips and nasolabial triangle.

This list may differ, supplement or exclude some individual manifestations. In any case, you should consult your doctor.

How to treat coronavirus in humans in 2020

There is no specific treatment for mild symptoms of coronavirus yet. Therapy is reduced to alleviating the condition with antipyretic, antispasmodics, local antibacterial sprays and nasopharyngeal drops.

On January 30, the Russian Ministry of Health published temporary recommendations with a list of drugs (for the treatment of patients with HIV, AIDS, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis and other RNA and DNA-containing viruses), which showed effectiveness in the treatment of atypical pneumonia (SARS) in 2003:

• lopinavir;
• ritonavir;
• recombinant interferon beta-1b;
• ribavirin.

In February, Chinese doctors began testing a Russian drug against RNA viruses, which include SARS-CoV-2. Testing of its effectiveness against coronavirus is predicted to end in May. Since the use causes many side effects, such as severe anemia, the drugs can only be taken under the strict supervision of a physician.

Antibiotics are completely incapable of fighting viruses, so their intake is inappropriate. Moreover, unnecessarily (which can be caused by the appearance of a concomitant bacterial infection - pneumonia or bronchitis) is very harmful to the immune system.

However, in more than 80% of cases, the disease does not cause complications and goes away on its own after a week, less often after 10 days. Complicated with pneumonia (SARS), the coronavirus can persist for up to 3 weeks.

Instruction with description for treatment at home

If a person who is sick with COVID-19 coronavirus or has corresponding symptoms does not need to be in a hospital, then he is allowed to go home for a two-week quarantine. Below is an instruction with a photo to prevent the spread of the disease among your surroundings:

1. Stay home. Self-isolation is required during treatment to limit contacts outside the home. With the exception of receiving medical assistance, it is advisable to call specialists at home.
2. Try to avoid public places for at least the next two weeks until you get your coronavirus test results.
3. Do not go to work, school or public places, and avoid using public transport and taxis. Move away from family and animals (although there have been no reports of pets being infected by humans so far), you should have a separate room away from others, including a private bathroom and utensils.
4. Airing and humidifying the air in the room. In winter, due to heating, the air in the room becomes too dry, which leads to overdrying of the mucous throat and nasopharynx, which is why microcracks appear on them. A large number of pathogenic bacteria accumulate in these wounds, therefore the first and prerequisite for a quick recovery in any respiratory infections is moist and cool air (up to 18 ° C).
5. Organize complete rest. When the body fights the virus, many cells die, so the toxins do not have time to leave the body immediately. During the period of intoxication, all organs are under increased stress, including such vital ones as the heart, liver, intestines and kidneys. Therefore, it is necessary to create a supportive environment to fight the virus. This requires bed rest.
6. Drinking plenty of fluids and taking enterosorbents. This is necessary to quickly remove toxic substances from the body with sweat and urine. Often with flu and various viral infections, vomiting occurs, therefore, restoring the water-salt balance is vital for a successful recovery. Otherwise, dehydration and a sharp deterioration of the condition occurs. You can choose to take mineral water or simple drinking, Regidron's saline solution, Smecta, Enterosgel and Polysorb are effective adsorbents.
7. Special diet. An illiterate diet will stretch the recovery period for several days. Therefore, patients with viral and bacterial infections are not allowed to eat a lot of gas and mucus-forming products. Fruits, berries, cabbage, legumes, buns, milk (except for sour-milk drinks without sugar) chocolate, biscuits, spicy, fatty, fried are not recommended. Food should be dietary and easy to digest, ideally steamed or in the oven, if the soup is very light and runny.
8. Wear a mask. When you are around other people (for example, in a room, in a car) or with pets. If your breathing is so difficult that you cannot wear the mask, then at least the people who care for you must not remove it. If you want to cough or sneeze, remember to do it in the crook of your elbow or forearm, or cover your mouth with a tissue (which must be disposed of after use).
9. Control your symptoms. Everyone should take their temperature regularly. Call the ambulance immediately (102 or 112) if the condition worsens (for example, breathing difficulties with coronavirus are dangerous due to lung failure). Fever can also be subjective, so only the doctor makes the final decision on the choice of treatment.
10. Wet cleaning. It is necessary for someone to periodically wipe all surfaces in the room with a damp cloth and disinfectant solution. This will help not kill, but significantly reduce the number of pathogenic microorganisms and accelerate recovery.
11. Finally, wash your hands often. Regular hand hygiene is the best way to control the spread and treatment of any virus. All germs from your hands must get inside through your mouth, eyes and nose, when you scratch, rub and take food. The most effective remedy is soap and water, and sometimes 60% alcohol sprays and gels can be used.

Make it a rule to regularly wash your hands, not only before eating or preparing food, but also after such procedures:

1. Blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
2. Toilet use.
3. Contact with pets.
4. Caring for the sick, children, old people.

Habitual hand hygiene helps prevent bacterial and viral infections. Learn to look after yourself and touch your face, eyes, nose, and mouth with dirty hands as little as possible.

Vaccine

According to information from the correspondents of the Voice of America (with reference to a representative in the government), trials of a vaccine against the COVID-19 coronavirus have begun in the United States. The first clinical trial participant received the experimental dose on Monday March 15, 2020, according to the official.

The National Institutes of Health is funding a study at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Institute for Health Research in Seattle. Representatives of the institution say that their development will take about a year and a half.

And 45 young and healthy volunteers will test various doses of vaccines jointly developed by NIH and Moderna Inc. At the same time, there is no risk of infecting the participants in the experiment, since the vaccines do not contain live cells of the virus.

The goal of research is simply to make sure the drugs won't cause any dangerous side effects and will help set the stage for larger trials.

Dozens of other research groups around the world are striving to create different types of vaccines and short-term vaccinations for a month or two.

There are no proven treatments yet. In China, scientists are testing a combination of drugs used to treat HIV and an experimental drug called Remdesivir, which was being developed to fight Ebola.

In the US, the University of Nebraska Medical Center has also begun testing Remdesivir on Americans who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 after being evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan.

Forecast

It is difficult to give a forecast for COVID-19. Reported illnesses ranged from very mild (including asymptomatic) to severe, including death. At the moment, 174 thousand patients with COVID-19 have been recorded, of which more than 77 thousand have recovered and more than 6,700 people have died.

On March 11, WHO declared a coronavirus pandemic. A pandemic is a global outbreak of disease across the globe. At the moment, it is in full swing, and more than a dozen countries have already introduced quarantine in schools and kindergartens, restaurants and sports clubs have been closed, events of more than 50-75 people have been canceled.

The virus spreads very easily from animals to humans and from person to person. In just over three months, starting in December 2019, it has spread to most countries in the world (over 100).

Immunity even in those who have been ill is practically absent. Unlike similar RNA viruses MERS (2012) and SARS (SARS 2002-03), it is extremely resilient in various environments. So, on surfaces outside the body, it lives up to 2 days, and in water up to 9 days, in the air its radius of distribution is 2-4 m for 30 minutes.

But its temperature regime is rather modest: only from 0 to 20 ° C, so it quickly dies in an unsuitable climate. Therefore, it is expected that the decline will begin by June. By that time, the number of victims could reach more than 10 thousand people.

Summarize

1. Symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus are similar to a cold or flu with a sore throat, fever and cough.
2. If the infection descends deeper - into the lungs, then dangerous edema may appear, if pain in the chest appears, an urgent need to consult a doctor.
3. Medicines for coronavirus are being tested (these are various antiviral drugs for HIV, AIDS and a group of RNA viruses), the vaccine is expected to be ready by the end of 2021.
4. In a person with a mild case, symptomatic treatment of coronavirus is carried out at home in self-isolation mode, more severe complications need to be monitored in a hospital.
5. The countries are being quarantined so that in the next two months the number of deaths (as of March 16 there are about 7 thousand) does not multiply several times.