Some symptoms can be misleading, and suggest that we have gastroenteritis, when they may be the first signs of Covid-19 (and vice versa). Here’s one more way to fool you.
-1605903283.jpg "Gastroenteritis or Covid-19? Distinguish between the two")
- Gastroenteritis and Covid-19 share many symptoms, including intestinal ones.
- Unlike gastroenteritis, Covid-19 can also attack the respiratory system.
Covid-19 has many symptoms that are found in other illnesses. If the majority of its attacks are in the lungs, the digestive system is also damaged. The approaching winter brings with it gastroenteritis, a disease that wreaks havoc just before the holiday season. To avoid confusing the first signs of Covid-19 with those of gastroenteritis, here is a summary.
Diarrhea and abdominal cramps are not good counselors
This is the symptom everyone thinks of for gastroenteritis. From a physiological point of view, this is the most “normal” symptom, since gastroenteritis is an inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract. To relieve itself, our body tends to “purge” everything that is in contact with this mucous membrane, which explains the abdominal cramps from contracting, and diarrhea, the result of the rapid and massive release of what is in our intestine and our stomach.
However, Covid-19 can in some cases attach itself to receptors in the digestive tract. This is why, as with gastroenteritis, Covid-19 can trigger nausea and vomiting, although this is rarer. Note, however, that it is usually elderly patients who suffer from digestive symptoms.
To distinguish between the two, know that gastroenteritis manifests quite suddenly, while the symptoms of Covid-19 on the digestive tract are more progressive. Similarly, the mode of dissemination differs since Covid-19 is airborne while gastroenteritis occurs through direct contact with a patient or a soiled surface.
Preferred pulmonary symptoms
Both illnesses can trigger headaches or fever, which is by the way one of the most common symptoms for Covid-19. If this happens to you, one of the ways to tell them apart will come from respiratory functions. Indeed, regarding pulmonary symptoms, they are largely linked to Covid-19 rather than gastroenteritis, which does not trigger a cough or stuffy nose.
Finally, Nature doing “things well”, Covid-19 has the merit of not allowing other seasonal illnesses to take hold, such as colds, flu or gastroenteritis. So know that if you have contracted gastroenteritis, you cannot also have Covid-19, and vice versa.
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