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COVID-19 Facts That Might Surprise You
Jennifer L.W. Fink, RN, BSN - Healthgrades
In January 2020, scientists announced that a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was responsible for an outbreak of respiratory disease and pneumonia in Wuhan, China. Since then, the novel coronavirus has spread around the world, sickening hundreds of thousands of people.
We’re learning more every day about the coronavirus that has caused the first pandemic since the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic. Find out what doctors are learning about SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes, COVID-19, including unexpected symptoms and how it might be treated.
1. Anosmia (loss of smell) is a symptom.
The most commonly reported symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath. However, as the disease has spread around the world, healthcare providers have noticed a few unusual symptoms, including loss of smell (anosmia) and decreased sense of taste (ageusia).
In South Korea, 30% of people who tested positive for the virus said that loss of smell was their first major symptom. In Germany, more than 2 out of 3 confirmed cases included loss of smell and taste.
Doctors recommend that anyone who experiences a sudden loss of smell or taste self-isolate and contact their healthcare provider.
2. SARS-CoV-2 binds tightly to human cells.
In 2003, SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, spread from Asia throughout the world, sickening more than 8,000 people and killing more than 700 over a six-month period. The virus that caused SARS (SARS-CoV) is similar to the one that causes COVID-19—both are types of coronaviruses—but researchers have recently discovered an important difference that may explain why the new coronavirus is so hard to stop: SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) binds 10 to 20 times more tightly to human cells than SARS-CoV (the virus responsible for SARS).
3. Coronavirus can make babies seriously ill.
Compared to adults, children appear much less likely to get sick if they contract the novel coronavirus. However, a report from China suggests that the very young may be more vulnerable to serious illness than older children. Researchers reviewed the records of 2,143 Chinese children and found that nearly 11% of sick infants were seriously or critically ill, compared to 7% of children ages 1 to 5 years, 4% of children ages 6 to 15 and 3% of teenagers aged 16 and older.
4. The COVID-19 virus can live on surfaces for days.
COVID-19 is spread primarily through respiratory droplets. When an infected person sneezes or coughs, the virus can travel from one person to another, either directly (which is why the CDC recommends maintaining at least a 6-foot distance from other people) or via an intermediate surface.
Researchers have found that the virus can live up to 24 hours on cardboard and 2 to 3 days on plastic and stainless steel. The CDC reports that the virus was detected on surfaces of the Diamond Princess cruise ship up to 17 days after passengers disembarked. However, only pieces of the virus were detectable, not viruses capable of infecting a person.
5. People who don’t have symptoms can spread the virus.
One-third of 565 Japanese citizens who were evacuated from Wuhan, China in February that tested positive for coronavirus infection never developed COVID-19 symptoms; and a study out of China reports more than half of infected children had no symptoms or only mild symptoms.
That’s good news for the affected individuals, but bad news for public health because people who are infected but don’t have any symptoms can unintentionally spread the virus to others. Public health officials are asking all people to dramatically limit social contact to prevent the spread of disease.
6. People with type A blood may be more susceptible to infection.
A Chinese study of 2,173 individuals who were hospitalized with COVID-19 found that the proportion of sick people with type A blood was significantly greater than researchers would expect based upon the percentage of people with type A blood in the general population. The study also found that there were fewer sick people with type O blood than would be expected.
These findings may be coincidental; a person’s blood type may or may not have anything to do with a person’s tendency to contract and get sick from coronavirus infection. More studies are needed.
7. You may already have been infected.
Some people never develop symptoms. And some people who had what they thought was a “bad cold” or the flu may have actually had COVID-19.
Right now, there’s no way to tell for sure if you had the coronavirus. Scientists are currently working on developing tests that will be able to detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the blood, or evidence of past infection. Such tests may help us eventually understand the true extent of this pandemic.
8. Some people with COVID-19 have digestive symptoms.
Cough, fever and shortness of breath are the most common symptoms of novel coronavirus infection, but many people also experience digestive symptoms, including lack of appetite, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain. According to study published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, 48.5% of 204 people admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 had digestive symptoms. A small percentage (7 people) only had digestive symptoms; these individuals did not have a cough, fever or shortness of breath.
9. Reinfection may be possible.
If a person gets COVID-19, are they immune to future infection? And if so, will that immunity last a lifetime? No one knows for sure. Reinfection is theoretically possible. Ten to 30% of our common colds are caused by four different coronaviruses, and we all know that having a cold doesn’t keep you from catching another cold. But animal research suggests that this coronavirus may be different: Macaque monkeys who were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 after recovering from COVID-19 did not develop another infection.
Researchers will carefully study many people who recover from the novel coronavirus infection.
10. A global trial is searching for effective coronavirus treatment.
On March 20, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a large global trial called SOLIDARITY. Its purpose: to find effective treatment for COVID-19. SOLIDARITY is examining four promising drug regimens: 1) Remdesivir—an experimental antiviral medication; 2) Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine—malaria medications; 3) Lopinavir and ritonavir—two HIV drugs that may be useful in combination; and 4) Lopinavir, ritonavir plus interferon-beta, a medication that works in the immune system.
WHO will collect data from patients all over the world and share results when available.
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