Unidentified respiratory illness in Bangkok, what is it?

[rabas]

Three immediate family members and one friend not connected with my family have come down with what appears to be the same long lasting respiratory illness. Symptoms are similar to a throat and chest cold with light nasal involvement. Seems to start in the throat and progress elsewhere. Nasal congestion with no sneezing, sore throat, and at times heavy bronchial phlegm. Little or no fever. No sign of bacterial infection. Three are still sick after roughly 2 weeks but in slow recovery.

 

ATK Covid testing negative in all cases. 

 

First case was a 3 year old grand niece who likely got in in preschool.

 

Does anyone know what this might be? Have you heard of similar cases in Bangkok or elsewhere? 

 

[mokwit]

Good summary of symptoms. I have it, and had it before for a long time before it went away. I notice a lot of Bangladeshis in the vicinity are coughing and assume I got it from them.

[simon43]

41 minutes ago, rabas said:

Three immediate family members and one friend not connected with my family have come down with what appears to be the same long lasting respiratory illness. Symptoms are similar to a throat and chest cold with light nasal involvement. Seems to start in the throat and progress elsewhere. Nasal congestion with no sneezing, sore throat, and at times heavy bronchial phlegm. Little or no fever. No sign of bacterial infection. Three are still sick after roughly 2 weeks but in slow recovery.

 

ATK Covid testing negative in all cases. 

 

First case was a 3 year old grand niece who likely got in in preschool.

 

Does anyone know what this might be? Have you heard of similar cases in Bangkok or elsewhere? 

 

Could it be that this is a new variant of Covid that is not detected by the current ATK tests? You say 'no sign of bacterial infection' which makes sense since Covid is a virus.

[FritsSikkink]

Check with a doctor if you have Influenza A, 4 of us in the family had it.

[freedomnow]

TB ?

[Dcheech]

Sounds like what I have right now. Not Wuhan, tested. A number of people have it in my condo.

 

[jas007]

I’ve been in Bangkok all week and I now have a light cold.  I think it started, though, while I was in Pattaya.  A slight sore throat, then some nasal congestion and sneezing.  Anyway, that lasted about a day and today, I’m much improved.  So, probably just a typical cold. It’s the first time I’ve been sick since 2015.  
 

 

[LivinLOS]

1 hour ago, rabas said:

ATK Covid testing negative in all cases. 

 

Those cheap covid tests are not entirely reliable.. 

A year back I tested neg for days when ill, and finally as I started to get better tested pos. 

[PPMMUU]

It's cold season, and dozens of respiratory viruses are circulating as they do every year. These include COVID, flu, and RSV, but are not limited to those. There's no need to be more alarmed than usual for this time of year.

[thesetat2013]

I have had the same thing several times this year. phlegm builds up in the throat producing an occasional cough. No fever. A deep rooted build up of snot that is difficult to blow out of the nose. Not covid but may be Covid related from previous infections. Medicine only relieves it.. but does not cure it. Mine is not infectious because no one in my home has gotten it yet. Been to many doctors. All quacks if you ask me. Went to a ENT specialist who says it is a deviated septum. Went to another doctor says it is from my smoking. Yet another says it is a lung infection. I really think they do not know as well. 

[rabas]

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

Could it be that this is a new variant of Covid that is not detected by the current ATK tests? You say 'no sign of bacterial infection' which makes sense since Covid is a virus.

Good question. I too wondered, the symptoms sound similar to recent stains of Covid.

 

However, while it's technicality possible a new strain might not be undetected by ATK tests, it's unlikely because they look for parts of the virus that are less likely to mutate. Also, hospitals would eventually detect the failure because their RT-PCR tests look for different mRNA codes. 

 

Of course, you must also test frequently and at the right time. (Kind of like a S/N problem...) We, my wife and her sister, have used two ATK brands, which had not expired. 

[rabas]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

Check with a doctor if you have Influenza A, 4 of us in the family had it.

 

Did  any of you have a fever?  influenza A often produces fever but not always.

[rabas]

1 hour ago, freedomnow said:

TB ?

 

I hope not! But symptoms don't seem to rule it out.

 

However, TB is bacterial and so far there are signs of bacteria in my wife's sputum (by microscope). 

[Stocky]

We've all had it here in Hat Yai. My granddaughter brought it back from school, she had quite a high fever, though neither my wife nor I did. We all had sore throat, cough, muscle aches and bronchial phlegm that takes an age to clear. Covid tests was negative. I assume it's some flu variant.

[FritsSikkink]

57 minutes ago, rabas said:

 

Did  any of you have a fever?  influenza A often produces fever but not always.

Some a couple of days but most days not. Most had a period when they thought it got better and then it started again.

Very tired too.

[mfd101]

Here in south Surin, my b/f has had similar symptoms (mainly a cough) for about 3 or 4 weeks, though seems to be much less now. He takes the usual Thai bags of pills to suppress symptoms ...

 

I have no symptoms at all.

[rabas]

Thanks to all for your responses.

 

So many repor such similar symptoms that it's clearly something going around.  As one poster noted, it's not unexpected since Thailand's flu season coincides with the rainy season.

 

WHO reports the two most common flu strains now prevalent in SE Asia/Thailand are H1N1_2009 and H3N2, both are typically fast onset with high fever, so maybe something else.

 

 

2 hours ago, thesetat2013 said:

Went to a ENT specialist who says it is a deviated septum.

 

I met one like him, didn't listen to my symptoms but said I had a deviated septum and ask when I would like to schedule surgery. 

 

My experience here is doctors who like questions are often good. Those who just give you 5 kinds of medicine are not much.