Coronavirus Symptoms: A Day-By-Day Breakdown Shows How The Disease Goes From Bad To Worse

It starts with a fever. That's the most common symptom among people who get the coronavirus that's sweeping the world.

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The virus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19, has reached more than 150 countries. The US has reported thousands of cases and dozens of deaths.

A February study of nearly 140 patients at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in China identified a typical pattern of symptoms associated with COVID-19. About 99% of the patients developed a high temperature, while more than half experienced fatigue and a dry cough. About a third also experienced muscle pain and difficulty breathing.

Research from the Chinese Center for Disease Control has suggested that about 80% of coronavirus cases are mild. About 15% of patients have gotten severe cases, and 5% have become critically ill.

Here's how symptoms typically progress among patients:

• Day 1: Patients run a fever. They may also experience fatigue, muscle pain, and a dry cough. A small minority may have had diarrhea or nausea one or two days before.

• Day 5: Patients may have difficulty breathing, especially if they are older or have a preexisting health condition.

• Day 7: This is how long it takes, on average, before patients are admitted to a hospital, the Wuhan University study found.

• Day 8: At this point, patients with severe cases develop acute respiratory distress syndrome, an illness that occurs when fluid builds up the lungs. ARDS is often fatal.

• Day 10: If patients have worsening symptoms, this is the time in the disease's progression when they're most likely to be admitted to the ICU. These patients probably have more abdominal pain and appetite loss than patients with milder cases. Only a small fraction die: The fatality rate has hovered at about 3%.

• Day 17: On average, people who recover from the virus are discharged from the hospital after 2 1/2 weeks.

The first symptoms, however, may not come right after a person has been infected. A recent study found that the virus' average incubation period is about five days.

Once symptoms do appear, they can be similar to those of pneumonia. But Paras Lakhani, a radiologist at Thomas Jefferson University, told Business Insider that COVID-19 could be distinguished from pneumonia because of how it worsens over time.

"Pneumonia usually doesn't rapidly progress," Lakhani said. "Typically, most hospitals will treat with antibiotics, and patients will stabilize and then start to get better."

People with COVID-19, however, can get worse even after they receive treatment such as fluids or steroids. One case study found that three days after a 33-year-old woman started receiving treatment at a hospital in Lanzhou, China, her illness was more pronounced than when she arrived.

In total, the new coronavirus has killed more than 11,800 people and infected more than 285,000 people. The number of cases reported outside China, where the outbreak originated in December, has now surpassed those reported within the country.

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