Scientists are still working desperately to find a way to treat, if not prevent and/or cure the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that has wrought such havoc around the planet since December 2019.
Researchers at King’s College London have now published findings of a new study on COVID-19 that reveal six distinct ‘types’ of the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the illness.
Each of the types differed in the severity of the disease and in the need for respiratory support during hospitalization, according to the findings of the research team.
The team said the findings from the COVID Symptom Study app have major implications for clinical management of the illness and could help doctors predict which COVID-19 patients are most at risk and likely to need hospitalization in future waves of the virus.
“If you can predict who these people are at Day Five, you have time to give them support and early interventions such as monitoring blood oxygen and sugar levels, and ensuring they are properly hydrated,” said Dr. Claire Steves who co-led the study. These are “simple care that could be given at home, preventing hospitalizations and saving lives,” she said.
The outcomes also varied significantly; some got mild, flu-like symptoms or a rash and others suffered acute symptoms or died.
The study, released online on June 16 but not peer-reviewed by independent scientists, described the six COVID-19 types as:
- ‘Flu-like’ with no fever: Headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever.
- ‘Flu-like’ with fever: Headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, loss of appetite.
- Gastrointestinal: Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhea, sore throat, chest pain, no cough.
- Severe level one, fatigue: Headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain, fatigue.
- Severe level two, confusion: Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain.
- Severe level three, abdominal and respiratory: Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain, shortness of breath, diarrhea, abdominal pain.
Patients with level 4, 5 and 6 types were more likely to be admitted to hospital and more likely to need respiratory support, the researchers said. (ed. note: It is not clear whether the loss of taste, or ‘ageusia’ is included by the researchers with the loss of smell.)
The pre-print, non-peer reviewed paper is available online: Carole H Sudre et al. Symptom clusters in Covid19: A potential clinical prediction tool from the COVID Symptom study app (2020) medRxiv doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.12.20129056
“Researchers have now identified skin rash as a key symptom of COVID-19 in up to one in ten cases. However, it was not recognized as a symptom during the time when the data was gathered for this analysis so it is currently unknown how skin rashes map on to these six clusters,” the team noted.