Nabeel Abo Kashreef
In the current pandemic of COVID-19 we are having lots of difficulties day today life. The pandemic has also created impact on social life in day today activity. Similarly, it has impact on ENT fields as well. The aim of the current work was to detect and discuss the different otorhinolaryngology (ORL) manifestations those were reported in COVID-19 positive patients The patient who has been diagnosed to have covid-19 positive have exhibited different signs and symptoms across the globe. We are here to compare the signs and symptoms, assessment protocol and treatment option across different country. The following are the general signs and symptoms of patient who has been diagnosed to have covid-19. The COVID-19 is presented mainly by upper respiratory tract related symptoms such as fever, cough, dyspnea and chest tightness that could progress rapidly to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). However, COVID-19 causes also different upper respiratory tract related symptoms including nasal congestion, sore throat and smell dysfunction. El-Anwar et al (2020) found that non-ENT manifestation were the main and much more common than the ENT manifestations including fever (1303 patients, 73.5%), cough (1080 patients, 61%), expectoration (405 patients, 22.8%), dyspnea/shortness of breathing (288 patients, 16.2%), hemoptysis (10 patients, 0.6%), chest pain (2 patients, 0.1%), nausea/ vomiting (69 patients, 3.9%), constipation (2 patients, 0.1%), diarrhea (75 patients, 4.2%), malaise/ fatigue (484 patients, 27.2%), and myalgia/arthralgia (185 patients, 10.4%). The most common ENT manifestations for COVID-19 were sore throat (11.3%) and headache (10.7%). It was found that the incidence of the ENT manifestation in COVID-19 patients is not as high as fever and cough. But it was reported that nasal congestion (4.1%) and pharyngeal erythema (5.3%) were reported to occur in nearly similar incidence to the occurrence of diarrhea in those patients (4.2%). Fever, fatigue and dry cough are the most common manifestations of COVID-19. Anorexia, dyspnea, sputum production, and myalgias are reported in more than 25% of cases. Sore throat, rhinorrhea, headaches, nausea, and diarrhea are less frequent and are mainly observed in mild or moderate forms of the disease. Cough, dyspnea, sore throat, rhinorrhea, nasal congestion, throat congestion, tonsils edema, enlarged cervical lymph nodes or dizziness are symptoms that otolaryngologist could encounter while examining patients with COVID-19.
