By Pamela Mawanda
Patients receiving treatment after being diagnosed with COVID-19 during the second wave are presenting totally different symptoms and treatment takes longer, doctors have observed.
Dr Christopher Nsereko, a physician at Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital, says that common symptoms among the people who have been infected during the second wave include chest pain, difficulty in breathing, fatigue and diarrhoea.
During the first wave, where over 1,000 patients were treated at Entebbe Referral Hospital, Nsereko says most of these cases had cough, headache, flu and fever.
He adds that they would also spend at least 15 days or less admitted in hospital. But during the second wave, the over 400 patients who have been admitted at Entebbe Hospital since mid-April now spend an average of 20-days because they come to the hospital in critical condition.
Nsereko says most of these cases had cough, headache, flu and fever. He adds that they would also spend at least 15 days in the hospital. However, during the second wave, the over 400 patients who have been admitted at Entebbe Hospital since mid-April now spend an average of 20-days because they come to the hospital in critical condition.
He says the hospital no longer uses hydroxychloroquine and Vitamin C in its treatment regimes, but critical patients are given the steroid Dexamethasone because of its anti-inflammatory effects.
A 35-year-old patient who preferred anonymity says that he contracted COVID-19 from the work place in mid-June. He says that he continues to experience excessive fatigue even after cure.
Another patient who contracted the disease in June says that she experienced a sore throat for two weeks. She adds that despite using over-the-counter drugs, the sore throat persisted. “In the third week, I experienced heaviness in my chest and congestion which I thought was due to hypertension,” she says.
She thereafter started exercising and her health improved. However, the sore throat and congestion in the chest intensified, prompting her to undertake a COVID-19 test. She tested positive for the lethal disease.
