Doctors warn those allergic to pollen to consider if their reaction has changed from previous years.
Coronavirus: Hay-fever symptoms could mimic Covid-19, GPs warn
Reply
Category Archives: Mind Building
Health24.com | Another study finds loss of smell is early sign of Covid-19
A new study adds to a growing pile of evidence that suggests losing your sense of smell and taste is an early sign of Covid-19.
While there has been anecdotal information about this link, these are the first empirical findings that make a strong connection, according to the researchers at the University of California, San Diego.
Other known symptoms of coronavirus infection include fever, fatigue, cough and difficulty breathing.
“Based on our study, if you have smell and taste loss, you are more than 10 times more likely to have Covid-19 infection than other causes of infection. The most common first sign of a Covid-19 infection remains fever, but fatigue and loss of smell and taste follow as other very common initial symptoms,” said study author Dr Carol Yan, an otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon at UC San Diego Health.
Rapid sensory recovery
“We know Covid-19 is an extremely contagious virus. This study supports the need to be aware of smell and taste loss as early signs of Covid-19,” Yan said in a university news release.
The study was published in the journal International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology.
The findings came from a survey of 262 patients with flu-like symptoms who underwent testing at UC San Diego Health from 3 March through March 29. Of those patients, 59 tested positive for Covid-19 and 203 tested negative.
Of the Covid-19 patients who reported loss of smell and taste, the loss was typically significant. However, the rate of recovery of smell and taste was high and usually occurred within two to four weeks of infection.
“Our study not only showed that the high incidence of smell and taste is specific to Covid-19 infection, but we fortunately also found that, for the majority of people, sensory recovery was generally rapid,” Yan said.
Early or subtle symptoms
“Among the Covid-19 patients with smell loss, more than 70% had reported improvement of smell at the time of survey and of those who hadn’t reported improvement, many had only been diagnosed recently,” she said.
The return of smell and taste often matched the timing of recovery from Covid-19.
The researchers also found that people with a sore throat more often tested negative for Covid-19.
Most of the patients in the study had milder forms of Covid-19 and did not require hospitalisation or intubation.
The findings highlight the importance of identifying early or subtle symptoms of Covid-19 infection in people who may be at risk of transmitting the disease as they recover at home, Yan noted.
“It is our hope that with these findings other institutions will follow suit and not only list smell and taste loss as a symptom of Covid-19, but use it as a screening measure for the virus across the world,” she said.
UC San Diego Health now includes loss of smell and taste as a Covid-19 screening requirement for visitors and staff, as well as a marker for testing patients who may be positive for the coronavirus.
READ | Hidden coronavirus carriers with mild cases – these symptoms could give clues to an infection
READ | Coronavirus hangs around even after symptoms subside
READ | Mild coronavirus cases often appear with only gastro symptoms
Image credit: iStock
Coronavirus: Plasma treatment to be trialled
The hope is blood from coronavirus survivors could treat hospital patients ill with Covid-19.
Quit smoking: Ease into it
Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission.
Advertising & Sponsorship
Mayo Clinic Marketplace
Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic.
Coronavirus: ‘Enormous strain’ on protective kit for NHS – Williamson
The education secretary says a delayed delivery of protective equipment will now arrive on Monday.
The Beauty of Endless Projects
One thing that Walt Disney loved about Disneyland was that it was an endless project. He could always continue tinkering with it. He knew that it would never be finished.
In contrast to Disney films like Snow White, Bambi, and Mary Poppins, Walt found it appealing to pour his energy into a project that he could never complete. This allowed him to make continuous improvements. He would walk around Disneyland often, especially on Saturday mornings, and note issues that could be improved. Sometimes he’d even tell team members to relocated trees that they’d planted, so the views for guests would be better. He was good at noticing how small details contributed to the overall experience.
Conscious Growth Club is that kind of project for me. We’re about to enter our fourth year, opening for new members April 27 – May 1. We’ve made numerous improvements to the group since we first opened for early access in April 2017. And there are many more improvements yet to be made.
From one perspective, the list of potential improvements can seem daunting. Whenever I invite members to share ideas for improvement, like I recently did in our private forums, there’s a flow of great suggestions that will take time to implement. I capture these ideas and integrate them into my project planning system, so I can keep track of them. The hardest part is prioritizing what we’ll do next.
For the early months and years of CGC, much of my focus was to get the big rocks in place: the forums, the coaching calls, and some courses. We now have three major courses and a nice flow of three coaching calls per month. We’ve had significant daily activity in the forums since we started. The core pieces have all been working well for quite a while now. And we can maintain a nice flow of continuing to add to these resources.
We’ve also added other stable elements to the group: a 24/7 video chat channel where members can connect (called the CGC Watercooler), new 30-day challenges every month, 5-step quarterly planning sessions for members to clarify their goals, and lots of spinoff projects and experiments that members have come up with, including a writing mastermind group, a CGC movie club, and an online co-working group.
CGC is my own version of personal growth Disneyland. It’s a project that will never be completed. Ideally I’d love it to outlive me – always evolving in different ways. With so many growth-oriented people inside contributing to it, it’s been expanding in interesting directions since we started.
Here are some of the aspects I want to improve for the upcoming year of CGC.
Helping Members Feel at Home
CGC is great for people who are very growth-oriented and have sufficient time to delve into all the resources and opportunities the group provides. But it can feel a bit intimidating to new members, and it takes a while for some people to warm up to it and feel socially integrated into the group, even though the people inside are very friendly and welcoming.
We always welcome new members in the forums after they introduce themselves. Rachelle and I do our best to welcome everyone personally too. That’s a good start, but we need to build upon that to help people feel even more welcomed and to help them feel comfortable enough to start using CGC’s resources regularly, especially on the social side.
After our 2020 opening, I plan to host an orientation webinar in the first half of May. All members are welcome to attend. This may be followed by a video Watercooler welcome party (either right away or shortly thereafter). The orientation will be recorded and added to the CGC member portal, so members can rewatch it whenever they want. If someone has gone inactive for a while, rewatching this could help reacquaint them with the key features quickly and help them re-engage.
As part of the orientation process, I could also invite some members who’ve been in CGC for at least a year to share their tips and suggestions for getting the most out of the group. I think some of our members would be happy to share, especially in terms of what they wish they understood better when they first joined.
I plan to create a nice onboarding email sequence too (instead of just a single welcome email), so when new members join, they’ll receive a series of emails gradually introducing them to different features of CGC one by one. They can reply to these emails to ask questions too. I’ll set it up so that previous members can opt-in to this sequence too if they want a gentle refresher.
Helping Members Build Comfort and Trust
I do the coaching calls personally, and even though I find them fun, casual, and stimulating, for some members it’s still a bit intimidating to raise their hands to participate in a live video coaching call.
Even after a year or more in CGC, many members have never participated in the live coaching (other than watching), and a key reason is that they don’t feel comfortable enough with it yet, especially when it comes to talking about personal growth challenges. We’re pretty gentle and encouraging on these calls, which are geared towards helping people find solutions to their problems. But it can take time for people to get used to this level of intimacy.
I don’t think I could get nervous doing these coaching calls if I tried, and it seems like I’ve been sharing intimate details of my life online forever, so this can be a blind spot for me. It’s easy for me to forget what it’s like to just be getting started with this level of sharing and trust. So I’m looking into adding more intermediate steps to help people bridge this gap.
One idea is to host occasional “office hours” or hangouts in the video Watercooler for members who want to connect and chat with me in a less structured format than the coaching calls. This could help members feel more comfortable talking with me on video if they find the regular coaching calls too big of a step.
There are other ideas we’re considering along these lines as well.
In the beginning our focus was on adding a lot of value to CGC. This year we’ll continue doing that, and I also want to do more to help members leverage the value that’s already there.
When you first enter Disneyland, you have to walk down Main Street. That’s the only way in. Then you get to the round courtyard in front of the castle, and from there you have options. It’s basically a hub-and-spoke design.
For some members the experience of joining CGC is like starting the Disneyland experience right in front of the castle. You’re dropped into the middle of the park, which can seem a little overwhelming. Which way do I go first? Should I go through one of the courses? Hop on a coaching call? Join a 30-day challenge? Start posting in the forums? Just lurk and read the forums for a bit?
So we need to build a Main Street for CGC. I can see that it would be helpful to provide a more linear channel into CGC to help guide people into the experience. Help them warm up to the new reality they’re entering. Then point out the options for further exploration when they’re ready.
Experimenting
I’m also interested in doing more experimentation this year. We already have lots of daily engagement in the forums, and members are finding wonderful ways to leverage CGC’s tools to create extra value, such as using the video Watercooler for mastermind meetups and co-working challenges. I’d love to do more along these lines. Lots of good ideas bubble up from observing how members are using the different tools.
Here are some ideas that I’d love to experiment with:
- Investigate ways to add games to make CGC more fun and to help members connect in different ways.
- Look into team-based projects, experiments, and challenges in CGC. What about a team-based 30-day challenge now and then? This could increase accountability for those who want more motivation and support to complete all 30 days.
- Explore the video co-working idea in more depth. See if more members want to engage with it and if we could do more with it, such as team productivity challenges.
- Explore adding some competitive aspects or contests to CGC for members who’d find that fun and motivating. Team 30-day challenges could be one version.
- Brainstorm what we could do with multiple Watercooler-type video channels.
- Consider having occasional Watercooler check-in chats for the more popular 30-day challenges, so people can discuss progress and sticking points. See if we can help more people finish all 30 days.
Most of these features will be of greatest benefit for the members who feel right at home in CGC and want to keep exploring and growing together. So I want to be careful to balance the addition of new features (including experimental ones) with making sure that we’re doing enough to invite members to engage with these features.
In this next year, I also want to give members more authority to help manage and implement some of these features. I’d like to explore adding some positions with paid stipends, so members who contribute a lot to the community can generate some extra income from their participation. This seems like a good year to lean into that.
I’m excited about the future of CGC. We have a really interesting mix of structure and organic elements within the group. It’s rewarding to have this endless project that can continue evolving year after year.
In some ways the most difficult years are the early ones because there’s so much to figure out and improve. Walt Disney and his team were constantly testing different ideas for Disneyland. They failed early and often, building rides that didn’t work well, tearing them down, and trying something else.
Sometimes I think of CGC as an amusement park of different experiences, although we focus primarily on growth experiences instead of entertainment. When I think about what Disneyland was like when it first opened in 1955 and how much it evolved over time, it helps me understand how far constant experimentation, improvement, and iteration can take us if we simply persist and keep striving to serve our members well.
Sometimes I dream about what it would be like to visit Disneyland in the 1950s or 60s. I’ve been there every decade from the 70s onward, but I’ve never seen the park during its earlier years. By the time I saw it, it had already been evolving for at least two decades. That would be a fun experience to recreate in virtual reality someday. Perhaps a smart enough future AI could build a decent simulation of that experience by researching historical footage and reading first-hand accounts from people who were there in the 50s or 60s. In creating some aspects of Disneyland, Walt realized that the past could be brought back to life. Imagine what past experiences we could recreate and experience with advanced enough technology.
Coronavirus: Front-line NHS staff deserve extra £29 a day, Lib Dems say
The Lib Dems says workers should be financially rewarded in the same way as military staff on deployment.
Coronavirus: Care home deaths in a week ‘double previous month’
Covid-19 related deaths in residential care could be far higher than official figures, a report warns.
Health24.com | Coronavirus morning update: Court action over cigarette sales, prisons problem, and a lifesaving ‘box’
Cases update:
The latest number of confirmed cases is 3 034.
The latest recorded deaths in the country is 52.
So far, 108 021 tests have been conducted.
READ MORE |All the confirmed cases of coronavirus in SA
Latest news:
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has supported the recent banning of sales of cigarettes and alcohol during the lockdown, as they had a negative impact on the health of people who had tested positive for coronavirus.
So far, cigarettes and alcohol sales have been temporarily banned in the country to assist government in curbing the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
To date, a total number of 3 034 people have tested positive in 108 021 tests conducted, and two more deaths have been recorded.
The number of deaths has increased to 52.
READ MORE| Lockdown: Mkhize gives full support to cigarette, alcohol ban
As South Africans deal with life under lockdown in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, government’s ban on alcohol sales as part of the regulations has been one of the major talking points.
Many a South African might have found him or herself relating to American singer Tom Waits when he crooned: “I don’t have a drinking problem, except when I can’t find a drink.”
Is it even legal to ban alcohol sales?
Yes, the Disaster Management Act explicitly states that the sale of alcohol can also be suspended or limited once a state of disaster has been declared.
READ MORE | SA’s battle of the booze explained
The Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) will be approaching the courts to have the ban on the sale of cigarettes under the national lockdown lifted.
In a statement, the organisation said it had been in consultation with its legal team and had taken a decision to pursue court action.
“Over the last few days, we have been consulting with our legal team and we have come to the decision to approach the courts for the appropriate relief, vis-à-vis the ban on the sale of cigarettes. This decision was not taken lightly and we had hoped that a logical solution in the best interests of all concerned would be arrived at without the need for litigation,” FITA chairperson Sinenhlanhla Mnguni said.
The ban had not stopped people from buying cigarettes during the lockdown period and had instead resulted in a number of economic and social concerns, he added. FITA is now calling for the distribution and sale of cigarettes to resume at retail stores, spaza shops and filling stations.
READ MORE | Lockdown: Tobacco association to challenge cigarette ban in court
The result came back from the prison official’s coronavirus test: Positive.
But it was already too late. The virus had already invaded her workplace, and was cutting a swathe through prisoners and staff alike.
Over the past two weeks, 56 inmates and 31 workers at the correctional facility in East London have been diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease.
“This is a ticking time bomb,” said Ayanda Botha, whose nephew is serving a 10-year term at the overcrowded jail in the Eastern Cape.
“There is no physical distances in prisons, none at all,” he told AFP. “So how do you expect to contain the spread?”
READ MORE | SA prisons scramble to isolate Covid-19 cases as infections spread
The May/June matric exam rewrites have been postponed by the Department of Basic Education.
The department announced that the Amended Senior Certificate (old matric) and National Senior Certificate Examination, which were scheduled to start on 4 May, would be postponed due to the national lockdown.
The exams will now take place in November.
The exams were to be written by more than 350 000 part-time candidates. This includes pupils who did not meet the pass requirements in the 2019 final exams, as well as those who had wanted to rewrite to improve their marks.
READ MORE | Coronavirus: Matric exam rewrites postponed to November because of lockdown
“I worry a lot about them catching coronavirus,” says Nozakuthini Batyi. “I make my kids stay in my yard or lie in bed throughout the day.”
To obey lockdown regulations, Batyi tries to keep her family inside her corrugated iron shack in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, GroundUp reports.
As a means to ensure her kids stay indoors, she makes them do house chores and school work. “I instruct my kids to scrub the floor, wash the dishes and do laundry to keep them too busy to loiter around,” she says.
Batyi moved her family to the Empolweni informal settlement, located on City-owned land in September last year. Previously, she rented a shack in Section 32, Makhaza, until she broke up with her boyfriend.
READ MORE | Coronavirus: How a Cape Town mom copes under lockdown without a toilet or water
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE REST OF THE WORLD
Cases update:
For the latest global data, follow this interactive map from Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.
Early on Sunday morning, positive cases worldwide were more more than 2 310 000, while deaths are more than 158 000.
The United States had the most cases – more than 726 000, and the most deaths – more nearly 38 000.
Two other countries ad more than 20 000 deaths – Italy, and Spain.
READ MORE | All the confirmed cases worldwide
Latest news:
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread around the world, some countries’ efforts to slow the spread of infection that have been more successful than others.
Both Australia and New Zealand have reported low numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths, compared to other major industrialised countries. As of Friday local time, Australia has reported 6,462 coronavirus cases and 63 deaths, while New Zealand has recorded 1,401 cases and only nine deaths.
The countries have been hailed for their early mitigation efforts to curb the spread of disease, which has been linked to their smaller-than-average number of cases and deaths among Western nations.
Experts say that early national lockdown efforts, good public adherence to the rules, and widespread testing capabilities may have prevented Australia and New Zealand from being overwhelmed with a wave of infections, similar to what is being seen in hard-hit countries like Italy and the United States.
READ MORE | Experts say Australia and New Zealand are examples on how to slow Covid-19
US President Donald Trump said on that China’s coronavirus deaths were “far higher” than it has admitted after the toll in the city where the pandemic originated was revised up by 50%.
Global criticism is mounting against China over its management of the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 145 000 people worldwide and hammered the global economy since it first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year.
More than half of humanity – 4.5 billion people – are confined to their homes as governments scramble to contain the virus’s death march across the globe.
World leaders are now looking at when – and how – to ease widespread confinement measures to revive an economy battered by what the International Monetary Fund calls the “Great Lockdown”
READ MORE | Trump says China virus deaths ‘far higher’ after Wuhan toll revised up
LATEST RESEARCH
Eyes narrowed in focus behind her face shield, doctor Jana Du Plessis kept a steady hand as she inserted a tube down the throat of a dummy, working through the lid of a plexiglass box.
Du Plessis, a doctor at Johannesburg’s Charlotte Maxeke public hospital, practised moving around a newly-designed isolation device to protect healthcare workers from coronavirus patients.
The “intubox” is the brainchild of four local doctors inspired by a similar “aerosol box” used in Taiwan for sedated and intubated patients.
The South Africans added holes to the original design as well as covers for the openings, creating a protective, transparent but accessible box intended to shield workers from dangerous respiratory droplets.
“This box will create a seal around the patient so that whatever further procedures are needed will happen inside the box,” she explained, manoeuvering tubes and drips through circular side flaps.
Doctors across South Africa are bracing for a potential surge in critically-ill patients as the number of infections continues to rise.
WATCH | SA doctors design a virus ‘box’ to protect healthcare workers against infection
HEALTH TIPS (as recommended by the NICD and WHO)
• Maintain physical distancing – stay at least one metre away from somebody who is coughing or sneezing
• Practise frequent hand-washing, especially after direct contact with ill people or their environment
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, as your hands touch many surfaces and could potentially transfer the virus
• Practise respiratory hygiene – cover your mouth with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Remember to dispose the tissue immediately after use.
READ MORE: Coronavirus 101
Image credit: Getty Images
Health24.com | Some steroid meds may raise coronavirus risk
People taking a certain class of steroids for inflammatory conditions such as asthma, allergies and arthritis may be at increased risk from the new coronavirus, experts say.
Glucocorticoid medications suppress the immune system, so people taking them may not be able to fight off the coronavirus, according to an editorial published online on 31 March in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
These people may also have more severe illness if they’re infected by the new coronavirus because glucocorticoids suppress the body’s own steroid response to infection, the authors said.
People with primary adrenal insufficiency (Addison’s disease) and secondary adrenal insufficiency occurring in hypopituitarism should also take extra precautions, said the authors, journal Editor-in-Chief Dr Paul Stewart, from the University of Leeds, England, and deputy editors Dr Ursula Kaiser, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and Dr Raghavendra Mirmira, from the University of Chicago.
Diabetics at increased risk
If patients develop symptoms such as a dry continuous cough and fever, they should double their oral glucocorticoid dose immediately and continue doing so until the fever has subsided, the authors said. They’ll require injectable glucocorticoid treatment if their condition worsens, according to their editorial examining the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on endocrine patients.
People with diabetes who contract Covid-19 also appear to be at risk of more severe illness than those without diabetes, the authors wrote.
Research from Wuhan, China, found Covid-19 patients with diabetes and high blood pressure were at increased risk for severe illness and death.
“In our professional lives, we have not witnessed a health care crisis of this magnitude and severity,” Stewart and colleagues wrote.
They noted that researchers have made progress in learning how the new coronavirus enters cells and spreads from one person to another, and some have made preliminary findings on how the coronavirus interacts with the endocrine system.
“Endocrine-related targets are at the forefront of discovery science as we collectively tackle this pandemic,” the authors wrote in a journal news release.
READ | Obesity ups odds for severe Covid-19 in younger patients
READ | Covid-19 can trigger serious heart injuries
READ | Certain health conditions increase risks for severe coronavirus cases
Image credit: iStock
