The NHS – despite all their great work – acknowledges only three main symptoms of the coronavirus, but there are many more clues. Mass testing is usually prohibited if infected people are not eligible for a Covid test. Many people walk around grocery stores without realizing that they are carriers of the infamous SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes Covid disease. Imperial College London collected smear tests and questionnaires as part of their REACT study.
The samples and papers were collected between June 2020 and January 2021, with some alarming results.
It was revealed that four unofficially recognized symptoms (by the NHS) were strongly associated with a Covid infection.
These were: chills, loss of appetite, headache, and muscle pain – in addition to the classic symptoms.
The classic symptoms recognized by the NHS are:
- A new, persistent cough
- A high temperature
- A loss or change in your sense of smell or taste
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They also reported fever, persistent cough and loss of appetite more often compared to adults.
People aged 55 or older also had more appetite loss than younger adults.
Those older than 17, but younger than 54 – who tested positive for coronavirus – reported muscle pain more often.
However, about 60 percent of infected people reported no symptoms in the week prior to their Covid test.
Professor Paul Elliott commented on the REACT study: “These new findings suggest that many people with COVID-19 will not be tested.”
The director of the REACT program continued: “That’s why [infected individuals] will not isolate themselves, because their symptoms do not match those used in current public health guidelines.
“I hope our findings on the most informative symptoms mean that the testing program can benefit from the most current evidence and help identify more infected people.”
Using the data, the researchers noted that the Kent Covid variant is less likely to cause a person to lose their sense of smell.
Instead, the Kent variant was strongly associated with a new persistent cough.
Dr. Joshua Elliott, of Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, said: “As the epidemic progresses and new variants emerge, it is essential that we continue to monitor how the virus is affecting people so that testing programs meet evolving needs.
“We hope our data will help test guidelines and develop systems that can help better identify people who should take a COVID-19 test based on their symptoms.”
The REACT prepress paper has yet to be submitted for peer review.