COVID-19 Testing: What You Need to Know?
COVID-19 Testing- What You Need to Know?
COVID-19 or Coronavirus 229E Infection is not a new disease, but it has now been recognized and declared as a distinct disease. It is spread from person to person from direct contact with the infected person’s respiratory droplets or through indirect contact with contaminated surfaces. As many as 90{158b0f370b74aa33d715c948ccface6f24c37e9cee84469cdad5d42d83cc2d5f} of the people who are exposed to the COVID-19 virus do not develop symptoms. However, some people in the remaining 10{158b0f370b74aa33d715c948ccface6f24c37e9cee84469cdad5d42d83cc2d5f} develop symptoms that appear in a span of 2–14 days after exposure.
Why Do You Need COVID-19 Testing?
It has been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that physicians who suspect some respiratory illness patients with mild symptoms conduct COVID testing for coronavirus 229E infection before moving ahead with management strategies. Urine test, nasal washing/aspirates/culture, throat swabs, bronchoalveolar lavage, and lung biopsy may also be required.
What Are the Symptoms of COVID-19?
Signs and symptoms of the COVID-19 virus include:
- Fever
- Headache
- Sore throat
- Sore muscles
- Difficulty breathing or swallowing
- Fatigue/tiredness (trouble getting out of bed)
- Loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting. These symptoms can last for up to 1 week.
A patient can have a combination of these symptoms in varying degrees. Some people experience mild symptoms that go away on their own while others develop severe pneumonia that requires hospitalization and death in some cases. Treatment options are available with early detection but you should seek medical attention if you suspect some respiratory illness.
COVID-19 is spread through respiratory droplets (tiny droplets expelled from the nose and mouth when someone coughs or sneezes). Humans can transfer COVID-19 infection to other humans through direct contact with respiratory droplets from an infected person. If you are infected by the COVID-19 virus, you can spread it to other people from 2 days before symptoms develop to 5-6 days after the start of symptoms. You can’t give COVID-19 to other people through food, drink, or other surfaces
