Now that a few countries are finding that they had cases earlier than they had previously thought ...

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

is anyone reassessing whether their 'bad flu' might have been Covid 19?

My DM went on holiday the second week of January, she passed through Heathrow and Dubai on the way there. On the 7th/8th day of her holiday she came down with a very nasty flu, high temperature, hacking cough, loss of appetite. Four other people in the group (it was a train journey) also came down with it at the same time as her. She came home at the end of January and needed a wheelchair to travel through the airports as she was so weak. It took her weeks to get back to herself. About a week after she came back my DB (who had been looking after her because I was away at the time) had a three day headache. He didn't think much of it and just took painkillers.

Initially we just assumed it was flu as it was too early to have been Covid-19, but now we are wondering if she might have had it. Especially given that she passed through Heathrow and Dubai which are both common destinations and/or transfer points for flights from the far east. I hope that it was, I know they now aren't sure whether having had it gives immunity, but hopefully people who have had it will have some resistance for long enough for the vaccine to be released.

I think I caught it mid January when I mixed with lots of students and visitors from China at an indoor restaurant. 7 days later I came down with a cough, sore throat, pain all down my windpipe and around my neck, wheezing sound when breathing, kept losing my breath when talking, blisters in mouth, heartburn, pins needles and the odd numbness. 8 days after that came an episode of breathlessness, never ever experienced anything like it. Took about 3 months to fully recover - even now I get the odd episode of stridor (high pitched wheeziness).

I have an annual flu jab so unlikely to be flu. Seems a huge coincidence to have a copycat virus given the timescales for covid fit. Can’t wait for an antibody test!

My sister and her boyfriend went to Italy at the end of January. Felt poorly the day before the flight, was ill the whole holiday and for two weeks after getting back. Both lost their sense of taste and smell too. This was obviously before Covid-19 really hit outside China according to the news, but we are convinced it must have been.

Have you a link? I saw that about France, not seen it for elsewhere.

There are a few scattered reports, like this one about the US.

Thanks. 🙂

There was a mega flu this year - right from mid December. I was ill after skiing in mid Jan, boyfriend then caught it 3 weeks later. But so many kids were ill, I was getting coughed on for months.

There was also a recent report about choir members in Bradford area I think, some of whom had had some contact with Wuhan in December and then a number of them and their contacts came down with illness very similar to Covid-19 during Dec-Jan-Feb if I remember right. Would be very interesting if they are able to get antibody tests. Sorry, haven't got a link!

I think a few families of my acquaintance has this, actually (US). They had all gone skiing - at separate times in the county where our cases originated.

The women/mothers were minimally impacted. However the men/dads had very high fevers for days - very unusual for an adult. Kids - normally very healthy and no pre-existing conditions - were out of school for a long time, with lingering coughs. (However, the cough thing isn't surprising considering the lovely wet environment that are the lungs)!

My DB's son had a bad flu, too, and DB is desperate to get the A/B test because their daughter (DNi) has asthma. But not sure what good that would really do them - except mentally. DSIL prefers not to have much to do with people outside her neighborhood, so everything has been delivered in for a long time.

This is the choir one.

I still want to know what on earth I had at the end of last year, was awful, hacking continuous cough and struggling to breathe properly for a couple of months.
No amount of antibiotics or steroids shifted it, lasted for months.
Just as I started to get better the whole world shuts down with the same symptoms I've just had
Had doctors baffled.
Would definitely be interesting to know when it was actually here as I reckon it was a few months earlier than thought and definitely here back end of last year.

lemonade same here, I was in Germany on holiday and so poorly. Didn't really recover until the middle of February. Had assumed flu, although I had the flu jab, and the symptoms I had were very similar to the Covid ones.

I guess we won’t ever know, though I wonder what the antibody tests will show?

My DH had a 3 week cough in January. He contracted it from a friend who was really poorly with it - I remember we were all surprised how poorly he was, he wasn’t right for ages afterwards.

Oh the choir one is fascinating.

What intrigued me about the French one was that I think the doc who found a December case only checked about 20 samples.

I’ve got no idea how many samples would have fit his criteria but finding one in just 20 suggests there might have been a lot?

Yes.
Never ill, normally one to just 'suck it up' kind of thing
End of December I was hospitalised with a temp of 40 and honestly thought I would die, I felt that ill. Over the following weeks, all other members of my household got a cough they couldn't shift for about a month, with DH also getting a temp.
Looking back I do wonder