COVID-19 symptom tracker app identifies six types of infections based on symptom clusters

A team of scientists at the prestigious King’s College London have found that there are six different types of infections which are identified by different groups of symptoms. The groups of symptoms vary across the severity of the level of infection.

The scientists claim that this information could come handy in terms of categorizing the patients from low risk to high risk and thus be given treatment accordingly. “If you can predict who these people are at Day five, you have time to give them support and early intervention such as monitoring blood oxygen and sugar levels, and ensuring they are properly hydrated”, stated Dr. Claire Steves, one of the members of the study.

This study was conducted by the doctors with the help of the COVID-19 symptom tracker app. This app was developed by Scientists to get insights from the data entered by the users in COVID hotspots.

Cough, fever and loss of smell have been considered the major signs of the infection. However, the tracker lays out various other symptoms like headache, confusion, loss of appetite, shortness of breath, etc. The symptoms, according to the data of the study, appear in a cluster in an infected host.

The study elucidates six types of COVID-19 infections based on the group of symptoms, as reported by Reuters:

1. ‘Flu-like’ with no fever: Loss of smell, headache, muscle pain, cough, sore throat, chest pain but no fever.
2. ‘Flu-like’ with fever: Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, muscle pain, cough, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain and fever.
3. Gastrointestinal: Loss of smell, headache, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, sore throat, chest pain, no cough.
4. Several level one, fatigue: Headache, fatigue, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain. fatigue.
5. Severe level two, confusion: Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain.
6. Severe level three, abdominal and respiratory: Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain, shortness of breath, diarrhoea, abdominal pain.

The researchers have also stated that patients at Level 4, 5 and 6 would be required to be admitted into a hospital and would be needing aid for respiratory support.