New Common Symptom Of Coronavirus Observed By Hospitals In The US Revealed

Coronavirus has caused the deaths of more than 1,700 persons in the U.S. and has infected more than 100,000 all across the country. It has surpassed China, the country where it all started, in terms of the number of infections.

Although the skyrocketing number of infections in the U.S. can easily depress you, it has also allowed scientists to learn new things about the virus. Health experts say that the proliferation of coronavirus cases in the United States has provided them with new insights as to how the disease can affect a certain population.

A New Symptom

The throng of patients being admitted to U.S. hospitals has alerted medical personnel to a new symptom. People going to hospitals have complained of feeling stomach pain, a symptom that has not been included in the list of coronavirus symptoms.

Michael Hirsh, the director of public health in Worcester, Massachusetts, said that hospitals are now admitting patients who tested positive for coronavirus having only abdominal pain as their symptom. Dr. Hirsh said that what they are seeing are patients coming in no so much having respiratory complaints but with abdominal pains.

Stomach Pain And Pneumonia

According to Dr. Hirsch, the pain they feel in their tummy is caused by the development of pneumonia located in the lower lobes of the patients’ lungs. If these lobes are frequently inflamed, the irritation in their diaphragm can cause pain in their abdominal area.

Dr. Hirsch, who is also a general surgeon, said that the more they see the disease, the better they learn about it. He said that as time goes by, scientists are going to see some manifestations of the disease that did not fit that classic symptom of fever and dry hacking cough.

No Respiratory Symptoms

The general surgeon revealed that many of the COVID-19 patients suffering from abdominal pain did not have any respiratory symptoms. Although at the moment, there is inadequate data they can use to map out trustworthy patterns, it appears that it is the younger patients who report stomach pain. On the other hand, it is the older patients who show respiratory symptoms.

According to health experts, common symptoms of COVID-19 are having a high temperature, shortness of breathing, and a new, continuous cough. Some patients reported having diarrhea and suffering from conjunctivitis, which health experts later on attributed to coronavirus infection.