A study conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has revealed that fever might have been over-estimated as a symptom of the novel coronavirus disease. According to the study, fever has never been a predominant COVID-19 symptom.
The study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR) of the Indian Council of Medical Research was conducted on 144 patients who were admitted to AIIMS Delhi between March 23 and April 15. It states that during that phase, only 17 percent of the COVID-19 patients were found to have a fever.
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The research paper titled ‘Clinico-demographic profile and hospital outcomes of COVID-19 patients admitted at a tertiary care centre in north India’ was authored by AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria and 28 others.
The research paper read: “Fever was present in only 17 percent of our patients, which was far less compared to other reports across the globe, including the Chinese cohort in whom 44 percent had a fever at the time of presentation and 88 percent developed a fever during the hospital stay.”
It further stated that 44 percent of the COVID-19 patients were asymptomatic when they were admitted to the hospital. While the presence of a large number of asymptomatic patients is welcome news, since it indicates they were immune to the infection, it also means that there were several silent spreaders of the infection in the country.
Among symptomatic COVID-19 patients, persistent coughing was found to be the most common symptom, while fever was found to be the least common
The mean age of the sample set was about 40 years, with 93.1 percent males. The commonly documented exposures to the virus were domestic travel to or from affected states and proximity to COVID-19 patients.
Most commercial establishments and public places have been relying heavily on thermal screening to regulate the access of people. Now that we know that fever may not always be a dominating COVID-19 symptom, it brings us to question how much this may have unwittingly aided in spreading the super contagious disease.
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