Although several people with Covid-19 are asymptomatic (they don’t have symptoms caused by the infection), many others are not and can often face serious complications. For this reason, it becomes essential to be able to recognize the symptoms of Sars-CoV-2 infection, to be able to intervene as soon as possible to cure the disease and therefore not lead to situations of danger of death.
The most common symptoms of the Sars-CoV-2 virus are the typical flu symptoms: fever, dry cough, muscle and joint pain, fatigue and weakness. If these signals occur simultaneously and not individually, it is more likely that the infection is coronavirus. As already mentioned, although in most cases the infection does not cause many complications, compared to normal seasonal infections the Covid-19 epidemic is characterized by a higher percentage (about 19% of cases) of severe respiratory symptoms up to respiratory failure and the need to resort to intensive care. In addition to these typical symptoms, temporary loss of taste and smell, gastrointestinal problems and, rarely, the appearance of skin rashes can also be associated with this virus.
Now that we have analyzed the symptoms caused by the infection and understood that not all people are affected in the same way by the virus, it may be interesting to find out which people are most prone to contract a Sars-CoV-2 infection and why the lethality rate is so high.
Studies conducted so far seem to suggest greater vulnerability mainly in elderly people, with chronic or immunocompromised diseases. Furthermore, although the probability of contracting the infection is the same for men and women, some studies seem to indicate that worsening of symptoms is found mainly in men. This could be due to environmental and behavioral or genetic factors.
Among the possible causes of the high lethality rate found in our country, there may be the fact that Italy has a very elderly population more prone to developing other diseases, which in the presence of the virus can accelerate the deterioration of health. The Northern regions also seem to have been particularly affected probably by the presence of the first Italian outbreaks which were at a more advanced stage of the epidemic. Among the causes still to be demonstrated, there is the fact that in our country extended families often favor contact between young people and “grandparents” and this may have accelerated the transmission of the virus from the most resistant to the most fragile population. Another hypothesis worthy of further investigation concerns a possible correlation of the virus with atmospheric pollution that could prolong its stay in the air and carry it more easily. Or it could contribute to developing more or less chronic diseases and / or inflammatory states that would make the host more susceptible to infection. Whatever the cause, it is essential to make every effort to discover it as soon as possible and then find a solution to counter it.