Modern medicine allows organ transplantation and has driven many dangerous diseases into oblivion. It is not surprising that a common cold can lead to negative consequences only if the disease is deliberately ignored.
Acute respiratory viral infections and diseases regularly make a large number of people sick in winter. At the same time, sometimes you can encounter a rather strange course of the disease. A common case is when a cold occurs without fever in adults.
Can there be an acute respiratory viral infection or acute respiratory infection without fever?
Yes, very often diseases occur without the usual symptoms, but this does not mean that it is harmless. Often a cold without fever is misleading and a person is in no hurry to see a doctor - because of this, valuable time is often lost.
If the illness does not go away for more than a week, you should definitely consult a doctor.
The answer to the question whether ARVI can be without fever is yes, subject to certain conditions. But the reasons for this state of affairs deserve more careful consideration. After all, an acute respiratory infection or acute respiratory viral infection without fever in an adult is, at a minimum, a reason to think about the root of the problem.
Why does this happen
If cold symptoms occur against the background of normal body temperature, then this is not an acute respiratory viral infection, but an exacerbation of a bacterial infection that is constantly present in the human respiratory tract (ARI).
True ARVI without fever is possible under one of two conditions:
- receiving immunosuppressive therapy;
- HIV infections.
If signs of a cold appear in adults without fever for more than a week, you should go to the doctor. This rule must be followed.
Is it good or bad
There is a fact - a cold without fever. Is this good or bad? Unfortunately, illness always has a negative impact on health. If the symptoms of ARVI in adults are without fever and without immunosuppression under control, it is necessary to be examined. You should be prepared for the worst. After all, if an adult has symptoms of ARVI without fever, then perhaps this indicates the presence of a serious illness - HIV/AIDS.
Bacterial acute respiratory infections in adults in most cases occur without fever. In this case, normal temperature is a good sign.
Other cold symptoms and signs
Accompanying the disease:
- headache;
- weakness and feeling of weakness (symptoms of intoxication);
- cough, sore throat, irritated mucous membranes.
The symptoms of a cold in an adult without fever are the same as during the normal course of the disease.
You can't be sure of anything
Illustration by BBC News
Nurse Amelia Powell, 23, was shocked when she learned she was an asymptomatic carrier of the infection. At the moment when the doctor called her and told her the test results, she was just working in the ward of the Cambridge Addenbrooke's Clinic.
Amelia felt fine and believed that she was completely safe, since she used personal protective equipment when working with patients with Covid-19. However, all her confidence instantly evaporated when, to her horror, the tests came back positive.
“The feeling was as if I was informed about the death of a loved one, it was something unreal. I thought that this couldn’t happen, not with me, because I was completely fine,” Amelia recalls.
She had to leave work immediately and self-isolate at home.
“Of course, I was worried, because I saw the inside out, so to speak, I saw how quickly the condition of coronavirus patients was deteriorating, and I wondered what would happen to me.” However, to her great surprise, she never got sick. “Literally nothing happened to me: I continued to exercise at home, ate normally, slept normally,” says Amelia.
No one knows how many such cases of hidden infection exist in the world.
Amelia found out that she had coronavirus only because all hospital staff were required to undergo testing. The result of this test surprised experts: out of more than a thousand people, up to 3% tested positive without showing any symptoms.
Even more asymptomatic infected people turned out to be on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which the epidemic found off the coast of Japan. The liner was dubbed a “Petri dish,” that is, a real breeding ground for infection, because about 700 cases of infection were discovered on board.
However, three quarters of the identified infected people did not show any symptoms.
And at one nursing home in Washington, more than half the residents tested positive for the coronavirus but showed no signs of illness.
How to treat
So, here comes a cold without fever. How to treat this disease? There are two main complementary paths here:
- drug treatment;
- compliance with bed rest and optimal conditions.
Let's consider how to treat a cold without fever in an adult, and what solutions to choose.
What medications to take
The best person to help you decide on an effective solution is a doctor who determines what to take for ARVI in adults without fever, based on the current epidemiological situation. Most likely, an auxiliary remedy will be prescribed that will help to heal faster or activate ongoing processes (for example, expectoration).
When a difficult situation arises, tests are carried out and exactly what can help is selected. After all, when choosing what to take for a cold without fever for adults, you need to clearly understand why the medication is needed:
- local antiseptics (sprays and lozenges) - remove pathogens and help with sore throats;
- expectorants and mucolytics help relieve cough;
- decongestants, saline solutions, antihistamines - help with a runny nose and stuffy nose;
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs - in case the body temperature rises above 38.5°C.
What to drink hot
When considering what to drink for adults with a cold without fever, it should be noted that scalding drinks are contraindicated. The emphasis should be on:
- large volume of fluid consumed (at least 2 liters per day);
- chicken bouillon;
- milk;
- herbal teas with the addition of lemon slices and raspberries;
- honey.
Here's what to drink if you have a cold without fever. Particular attention should be paid to the volume of fluid consumed. It is best if it is ten degrees warmer than room temperature.
What else should I do for treatment?
Bed rest, less activity and nervous shock, moderate diet, sleep if desired. Rest for a struggling body is in most cases more important than prescribed medications (if a person just gets sick). These solutions will allow you to overcome a cold without fever; its treatment will not require much effort or additional resources.
Is there coronavirus without symptoms?
The COVID-19 coronavirus can be completely invisible to humans, as it occurs without symptoms. This is typical for coronavirus pathogens. Since the discovery of this family of viruses (in 1965), there have been only two outbreaks of serious disease (in 2002 and 2020). The rest of the time, infections associated with coronaviruses were discussed extremely rarely.
The lack of a vaccine and specific drugs for treatment is also explained by the fact that previously the vast majority:
- the disease was mild or without symptoms;
- no special medications were required for therapy;
- Ordinary cold remedies or even folk remedies were enough.
Moreover, approximately 80% of the population has antibodies to various types of coronaviruses; they existed even before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. These people seem to tolerate the new disease more easily than others.
An asymptomatic course is also typical for coronavirus infection in animals. At the same time, they can be carriers, that is, contain the virus in the body, not get sick, but at the same time be infectious to their relatives. The carriage of viral particles is not unique; it also occurs with hepatitis, HIV, and herpes.
The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was no exception. When examining families where there was an infected person, doctors encountered cases where not everyone suffered from a viral infection, but had antibodies in their blood, which means the formation of an immune reaction in response to the penetration of the virus.
In China, 18 people were observed without symptoms, and their PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test for coronavirus was positive; 17 then developed symptoms, but one was healthy, despite the same source, the same viral load.
How many people without symptoms by country
It is not yet possible to say what the exact percentage of asymptomatic coronavirus is, because for this it is necessary to conduct an extensive blood test in the population for the presence of antibodies. This will show, on the one hand, how much collective antiviral immunity already exists, and on the other, the true number of people who have recovered from the disease in a latent form. According to a virologist from the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Hygiene, academician Felix Ershov, such people in Russia may be about 50% of all infected.
The first cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus were discovered in China, and asymptomatic carriers were also identified for the first time there, but they were not included in the general statistics, as it was decided that there were only a few such cases. At the beginning of March, it became known about 130 spreaders of the infection without symptoms, but by the beginning of April 2020, carriage was found in almost 2,000 people.
The real number of such people is probably many times higher. For example, scientists from South Korea have suggested that the number of asymptomatic people with coronavirus infection will be within 70% of the total number of infected people. It is their search that the World Health Organization (WHO) is targeting doctors with, calling for maximum general testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
How long does a cold last?
The best option if ARVI in adults without fever lasts up to a week. The most difficult are the first few days after the onset of symptoms.
If you follow the recommendations, already on the 3rd and 4th day the body begins to recover. But an exception is possible. Then, probably, you cannot do without professional medical help.
How long does a cold last in an adult without fever if you don’t follow the recommendations? In this case, recovery may take several weeks - and this is at best. You cannot do without the help of a doctor. If the illness lasts more than a month, the risk of pneumonia and other severe complications is high - in this case, long-term treatment in a hospital will be required.
“Dark substance” of asymptomatic infection
In an attempt to find answers, scientists led by Professor Neil Hall are proposing to test the entire population of Norwich for coronavirus.
“Asymptomatic cases may be the dark matter of the current epidemic,” says Professor Hall. We are talking about the notorious invisible substance, of which, presumably, the majority of the matter of our Universe consists, but which has not yet been discovered.
Professor Hall fears that asymptomatic cases, despite government measures to protect public health, continue to fuel the current epidemic.
“If there are people who do not suspect that they are sick, and at the same time use public transport and medical institutions, this inevitably leads to an increase in infections,” says the scientist. “Any action against people who come to medical institutions with symptoms of the disease will only be a half solution to the problem.”
According to a group of scientists from California, asymptomatic carriers are the “Achilles heel” of our fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
China was the first to introduce mass testing for coronavirus / Image copyright Getty images
They are convinced that the only way to stop the spread of the disease is to identify everyone infected through testing, regardless of whether they have symptoms of the disease.
And they suggest paying special attention to health and social care workers who are in contact with risk groups.
A similar approach, only on a larger scale, has already been adopted in the city of Wuhan, which, apparently, became the first outbreak of the epidemic.
There, 6.5 million residents were tested over 9 days in order to identify all carriers, including hidden ones.
Reasons for the absence of fever during ARVI
ARVI and other colds occur as a result of the penetration of pathogenic microbes - viruses - into the body. Invading the cells of the nasopharyngeal mucosa, they begin to actively multiply and quickly affect the entire upper respiratory tract.
A normal reaction to viruses is a rise in temperature. However, this does not happen to all adults and children. The main reason for the absence of fever when other clinical signs are present is weakened immunity. A decrease in immune defense can occur due to:
- local or general hypothermia of the body,
- recent infections,
- chronic inflammatory processes.
Sometimes the immune system weakens so much that the immune system is unable to respond to the attack of viruses and trigger the thermoregulation mechanism. In such cases, the disease develops rapidly, but the temperature does not rise above 37 degrees.
Many adults do not take colds without fever into account and continue to go to work. This is not only wrong, but also dangerous, since if left untreated, the risk of complications and secondary infection increases.
