New Delhi: The COVID-19 situation continues to worsen globally with each passing day. Its been over eight months since the outbreak of the deadly virus and governments, doctors, researcher and pharma companies are continuously putting in their best efforts to soon come with vaccines and cures for the novel Coronavirus disease.


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Despite some positive developments, there's still a lot that remains unknown about the spread of the viral infection. Scientists are still trying to figure out why the infection affects people differently leading to some patients having mild form of infection while some being at severe risk and others tend to be asymptomatic.

Answering some of these questions, London's King's College in its recent study has claimed that there are six different types of infections observed in people despite the fact that there is just a single virus.

According to the reports, a study was conducted among 1600 patients across the UK and the US, who recorded COVID-19 symptoms between the months of March and April. After studying their symptoms, it was found that three clusters were found to belong to the mild category, while three belonged to the more severe category.

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The six main clusters of infections identified in the study are: 

CLUSTER 1: Mild Flu-Like Infection, No Fever

People falling under Cluster-1 tend to have mild flu-like infection which happened due to trouble in the upper respiratory tract, brought on by an increased viral load. People usually suffer from cold, sore throat, blocked nose, chest pain, muscle pain, loss of smell and headache.

CLUSTER 2: Flu-Like Infection With Fever

People falling under Cluster-2 tend to have symptoms of a mild flu-like infection along with fever and loss of appetite. People usually suffer from hoarseness in the voice, dry cough.

CLUSTER 3: Gastrointestinal Infection

People belonging to this cluster were observed to be suffering from digestion and gastrointestinal problems. The study claimed that cough was not a prominent symptom here however, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea were common symptoms among the patients of these cluster.

CLUSTER 4: Severe Level- 1 With Fatigue

People falling under Cluster-4 were observed to be suffering from energy loss, exhaustion brought on by immunity slow down. The study stated that patients tend to be going through symptoms like fatigue, headache, loss of smell and taste, sore throat, fever and chest pain.

CLUSTER 5: Severe Level- 2 With Confusion

Patients under this category tend to suffer from Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, confusion, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion and muscle pain. The study stated that the symptoms in this cluster impacted nervous functioning of the patients.

CLUSTER 6: Severe Level- 3 With Abdominal & Respiratory Distress

The study claimed that the patients under this category are usually at high risk and tend to be suffering from severe kind of symptoms such as confusion, sore throat, chronic fever, loss of appetite, headache, diarrhoea, shortness of breath, muscle and abdominal pain, which set in people in the first weeks. As per the reports, patients with such symptoms are at an alarming stage and might even require external oxygen support for survival.