As the symptoms of viral fevers, dengue, COVID-19, and flu are nearly similar, it is taking longer for doctors to determine the exact infection or disease a person is suffering from.
In fact, general physicians are giving it two to three days before recommending tests to patients for a proper prescription of medicines.
With heavy rains in this monsoon season, the incidence of viral fever, flu, COVID, and dengue, is relatively more. According to physicians, these diseases have almost similar symptoms that include fever, body pain, and fatigue, among others.
And if a patient does not experience any specific symptom, it becomes difficult to diagnose the infection or disease.
Recently, COVID positive patients are not experiencing the loss of taste or smell, which is a distinctive symptom of the infectious disease. This is because of the immunity that a person develops after taking vaccine shots.
With this, doctors cannot pinpoint the possibility of COVID by assessing the other symptoms experienced initially (two or three days after onset of the symptoms).
“Only a few patients with COVID are experiencing loss of taste or smell. Now, if a person consults a doctor with complaints of fever, body pain, back pain, and fatigue, only the basic medication to address the symptoms is prescribed. And the patient is asked to opt for a follow-up consultation after two days. If the symptoms aggravate or do not subside, investigations like Complete Blood Picture (CBP) are prescribed to know the exact cause,” said Dr. K Shivaraju, consultant physician at KIMS.
He said that dengue or flu cases were not significant in the first and second wave of COVID. In this season, these cases are significant and that is making it difficult to figure out a particular infection or disease based on symptoms in the initial days. This is necessitating basic investigations.
Dr. Apoorva Munigela, consultant physician at AIG Hospitals, held a similar view. She said that when a patient consults with complaints of fever, body pain, and fatigue, he or she is advised absolute rest, hydration, and basic symptomatic treatment.
“If the fever and other symptoms subside, then basic investigations are not needed. If the severity of the symptoms increase, or do not subside even after two or three days, Complete Blood Picture (CBP), and inflammatory markers’ tests like ESR and CRP, are suggested to help estimate the kind of fever the patient is suffering from. Further investigations are decided based on the clinical symptoms the patient develops after two or three days, and test results,” said Dr. Apoorva.
If a patient is insistent about undergoing tests on the first or second day of experiencing the symptoms, doctors usually do not object. Patients having such symptoms are asked to isolate themselves, and wear mask to avoid spread of these diseases.
