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Poor weather conditions, sporadic rainfall, and heavy heat amid rains have resulted in an increase in viral infections.

The fluctuating weather and intermittent rains have brought to fore the viral infections yet again and this time there is COVID-19 too. There is a rise in seasonal viral illnesses like fever, upper respiratory tract infections, vector-borne diseases like dengue, and water-borne diseases such as typhoid.

However, with the similarity of these symptoms with COVID-19, there is a lot of confusion among people if they have contracted COVID-19 or the common cold.

Since many of us prefer self-medication for the common cold, in some cases it is leading to late diagnosis of COVID-19 due to which less time is being left for doctors to save the patients from the deadly coronavirus.

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

• Fever, dry cough, sore throat, blocked nose, shortness of breath, loss of smell, and taste.
• Pain in the abdomen and diarrhea in some cases.
• Clot formation in the lungs and also in the arteries of the heart and brain.

What are the symptoms of the common cold?

• Stuffy or runny nose.
• Sneezing
• Fever and chest congestion
• Cough

Doctors say that while fever, sore throat, dry cough, blocked nose, shortness of breath, and loss of smell are the common COVID-19 symptoms, some patients also tend to develop severe gastrointestinal, cardiac, and neurological issues like dizziness, seizures, and confusion.

The gastrointestinal issues include pain in the abdomen and diarrhea. But these issues are also emerging as COVID-19 symptoms.

While COVID-19 is predominantly a respiratory disease and it is common to see the lung involvement, what we must keep in mind is that it is a thrombogenic disease and precipitates clot formation. In 10 to 15 percent of patients, clot information can occur in the arteries of the heart and brain.

Heart attacks in COVID-19 patients can also be natural due to fear, anxiety and stress.

Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman of Manipal Hospitals said that the symptoms of many respiratory viruses are somewhat similar and many a time it becomes difficult to distinguish whether it is a common cold, influenza, flu, or COVID-19 based on the symptoms alone.

He suggested that it is always better to consult a doctor and get tested when in confusion or in times of lack of clarity.

Subrata Das, senior consultant, Internal Medicine and Diabetology, Sakra World Hospital, said that monsoon generally is the most fertile breeding season for harmful viruses, bacteria and other micro-organisms. Moreover, the risk of getting exposed to these viruses is also very high in this season.

During the monsoon, the most common diseases have four mediums of transmission. They are mosquitoes, water, air and contaminated food. You must watch out carefully for all these kinds of diseases especially in the monsoon season.

By Gayatri Yellayi