London: Researchers have found seven forms of disease in mild COVID-19 that make significant changes in the immune system even after 10 weeks of contracting the infection.
Following are the groups of symptoms:
- Flu-like symptoms (with fever, chills, fatigue and cough)
- Common cold-like symptoms (with rhinitis, sneezing, dry throat and nasal congestion)
- Joint and muscle pain
- Eye and mucosal inflammation
- Lung problems (with pneumonia and shortness of breath)
- Gastrointestinal problems (including diarrhoea, nausea and headache)
- Loss of sense of smell and taste and other symptoms
In a study, published in the journal Allergy, the research team examined convalescents and 98 healthy individuals in the control group and found that various symptoms related to COVID-19 occur in symptom groups.
“In the latter group, we found that loss of smell and taste predominantly affects individuals with a ‘young immune system’, measured by the number of immune cells (T lymphocytes) that have recently emigrated from the thymus gland,” said study author Winfried F. Pickl.
At the same time, the scientists established that Covid-19 leaves behind long detectable changes in the blood of convalescents, very similar to a fingerprint.
“These findings could play a significant role in the treatment of patients and in the development of a potent vaccine,” a news agency quoted study authors from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria.
