1.7.20

Nausea and rashes among new Covid-19 symptoms

Cough, cold or fever are no longer the only warning signs of Covid. Severe backache, abdominal pain, rashes or aching calves could also be the calling card of the virus, which has killed 4,556 Mumbaikars and affected almost 80,000 people in the past three months.

Doctors treating Covid cases in the city say diarrhoea may be more common than previously thought. Patients with no history of diabetes brought to hospital with sugar levels of 400-plus dl/gm is also a red flag. “Doctors are seeing patients with uncommon symptoms such as bodyache; some have no complaint apart from pain round the knees and below,” said Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of the state government task force on Covid-19.

A senior doctor, Jalil Parkar, who treated over 200 Covid patients before testing positive for the virus, said backache was the first symptom he had experienced.

Infectious diseases specialist Dr Om Srivastava, who is also a task force member, said nausea is emerging as a common symptom. “We have found Covid in people coming with abdominal pain and loose motions with bodyache. Even simple fever is turning out to be Covid. However, we try and rule out dengue, malaria, etc before asking for a Covid test,” said Dr Hemant Gupta, professor of medicine at Grant Medical College (JJ Hospital).

Dr Behram Pardiwala, internal medicine expert, at Wockhardt Hospital said, “Some younger patients and adults are coming with complaints of itching and rashes. We have seen this in at least three adults two weeks ago,” he said.

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