Kolkata: Covid symptoms in patients have changed significantly since the second wave, which leads to the challenge in detecting infection, saying a city doctor.
While this has not triggered alarm because a large number of patients are fully vaccinated and not experiencing severity seen during the first and second waves, has caused a number of Covid cases that are not recorded because most doctors don’t even advise them mild symptoms to undergo a test.
Even those who advise patients to be tested said there are very few compliance.
General practitioners of the environment, which has proven to be very valuable in diagnosing Covid cases and providing care for patients with symptoms that are not too severe, realizing last month that viruses have changed symptoms when they find many members who suffer cough and cold.
“Because cough and cold are common during season changes, initially we thought it was an ordinary flu.
But when we found more family members developed similar symptoms, we began to suspect there might be more than that.
Also, while the majority of patients recovered after treatment, for Some of the symptoms linger and they began to experience the loss of flavor and smell.
It usually happens around the eighth or ninth day since the beginning of the flu, “said Sabyasachi Bardhan, who practiced at Ballygunge-Lansdowne Belt.
His wife Shilpi Bardhan, who also practiced in the area, said some of them did the RT-PCR test found covid-positive.
Some patients like that then need hospitalization but recover at home.
At the other end of the city, Debabrata Saha, who practices in the Kankurgachi-Shyambazar belt, has 40 cases like that in a week, which is only one hospitalized.
“We pay attention to significant changes in symptoms.
In contrast to the first and second waves when covid patients experience dry cough, now coughing wet or one that produces phlegm.
Also, unlike previous medium and high-quality temperatures, patients now suffer low level temperatures,” said Saha.
Ranjit Das, who sits in a room near after Cinema in Bhowanipore, said unlike the first and second waves when seven of 10 patients with fever and other symptoms turned out to be covid-positive, now three out of 10 fever patients have covid.
While vaccination has done bits, watershed and several other GPS advising senior citizens and those who are susceptible to chest infections until now taking a flu shot.
“We don’t know when the booster dose will occur.
Many took the second dose six months ago.
They have to take the flu vaccine now,” he said.
While fear will covid subside, people don’t drink lightly as they do in the past.
Therefore, GPS now has almost twice the number of patients marching in their rooms, most of them with fever.
One third of them positive tests for Covid, the third has malaria and dengue fever and the rest have chest infections, the doctors said.
What a lot of GPS is feared is that it is not like the first and second waves, when patients strictly adherive to the Covid protocol such as wearing masks and isolate family members who show symptoms such as Covid, there is a total ignoring it now.
Vaccination seems to have caused the wrong belief that they are now protected against Covid.
“From being paranoid about Covid during the first wave became truly careless, our attitude has shifted from one extreme to another.
Not only has people who are fully vaccinated by positive covid tested but also those who already have Covid before and are now fully vaccinated,” Anindya Roy Chowdhury said in Salt Lake and attached to several hospitals.