SHBC1623
N.MAGANLAL1, J.R.RAMASAMY1
NHG Polyclinics1
Typical symptoms of SARS-CoV-2(Covid19) infection are of upper-respiratory-tract infection(URTI) like- fever/cough/blocked-nose/running-nose/sorethroat/bodyache/headache/phlegm/. Some have atypical symptoms like anosmia or loss of taste. We studied the incidence of atypical and typical clinical symptoms in the 89 Covid-19 cases diagnosed at Woodlands polyclinic from Mar2020-Jun2020.
Data was generated by Operations department of Woodlands polyclinic.
The cases were distributed in 3 different age groups (Group-1=20-49 years old, Group-2= 50-69 years old and Group-3= > 70 years old) and analyzed.
Out of 89 cases
88%(n=78) were male with majority from Group-1(n=66), followed by Group-2(n=7) and Group-3(n=5) 12%(n=11) were female with majority from Group-1(n=7), followed by Group-2(n=4). Most patients had overlap of symptoms of- fever/cough/blocked-nose/running-nose/sorethroat/bodyache/headache/phlegm/anosmia/loss of taste.
Typical presentation in:
Group-1 was fever(n=60), cough(n=56) and block-nose/running nose(n=23)
Group-2 was fever(n=10), cough(n=10) and sore-throat(n=6)
Group-3 was sore-throat(n=2) followed by fever, cough and body-ache(n=1each)
Majority in Group-2 presented with fever (90%, n =10/11) as compared to those in Group-1 (82%, n=60/73) and Group-3 (20%, n=1/5) Atypical presentation of anosmia and loss of taste(n=5) was noted in Group-1 and none in Group-2 or 3
Majority of the cases presented with the typical symptoms of URTI. The main symptoms presented in Group-1 and 2 were fever and cough as compared to those in Group-3.
As the symptoms of flu and COVID-19 are similar, it may be hard to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone, and PCR testing is vital to help confirm the diagnosis. Early detection of COVID-19 cases is crucial to contain the outbreak in Singapore.
