Question

Linda comes home for Christmas after her first semester if college, where she lived in the dorms. She develops a fever of 101 °F, a dry cough and is very tired. She has elevated white blood cell counts and procalcitonin levels of 1.5 micrograms/liter. What disease is she likely to have and what should the next step in diagnosis be?

Answer 1

The Diagnosis could be 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) where the symptoms are fever, fatigue, dry cough, dyspnea etc., with or without nasal congestion, runny nose or other upper respiratory symptoms.

There are specific labs set up for conducting coronavirus tests,

There are different types of coronavirus tests that can be done:

• Swab Test – In this case, a special swab is used to take a sample from the nose or throat
• Nasal aspirate – In this case, a saline solution will be injected into the nose and, then a sample is taken with a light suction
• Tracheal aspirate – In this case, a thin tube with a torch, also known as a bronchoscope, is put into the mouth to reach lungs from where a sample is collected.
• Sputum Test – Sputum is thick mucus that gets accumulated in the lungs and comes out with a cough. During this test, its required to cough up sputum in a special cup or a swab is used to take a sample from the nose.
• Blood test – In this case, a blood sample is taken from a vein in the arm.

Rapid diagnostic tests based on antigen detection: rapid test has also been started for the COVID-19, which involves taking samples from the nose, throat, and lungs. Rapid diagnostic test (RDT) of a sample of the respiratory tract of a person helps to detect the viral proteins (antigens) related to COVID-19 virus. This ensures a speedy and accurate diagnosis and its usage is CDC-approved.

Rapid diagnostic tests based on host antibody detection

This test detects the presence of antibodies in the blood of COVID-19 infected people.