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COVID/flu symptoms are the same symptoms as a lot of things, so hard to say anything about what they have based on those symptoms. If their doctor is decent, your best advice is to just let them do their thing. You're not going to get a useful diagnosis from the Lemmy community.
I should stop there, but I came here to answer the title of your post. Yes, my dad died of something they never figured out. Was very strange.
there's a lot of viruses: rhinovirus, other coronaviruses, RSV, etc. and other kinds of bacterial infections too. checking ProMED Mail I don't see anything too out of the ordinary. there's usually a flurry of emails there before an epidemic emerges.
I live near switzerland, and there is this new lung infection that is spreading over here. It is viral unfortunately, which means no antibiotics.
Your parents should have gone to a doctor in switzerland.
As for being worried, basically everyone around me have been getting sick lately but no one is seriously ill because of it. It did take a while for them to be feel better tho.
I hope it helps!
Your parents should have gone to a doctor in Switzerland.
I know they have much better healthcare there, but they weren't showing symptoms until after they returned to the US and I don't know many well people that waste time going to doctors lol
My wife's stepfather got something while working in Africa that destroyed his liver over the course of months. He finally had to get a transplant. Cause was never identified.
A friend sent some time in an induced coma while they tried to sort out her situation. Turned out to be Zika. She "recovered" but isn't the same. Several strokes, etc.
my dad's tongue turned black and he developed jaundice when he was living in Germany. they sent him to a tropical disease institute. never figured out what it was; it eventually went away. I'm guessing he happened to cross paths with someone who traveled from an exotic location.
I have Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Key symptoms are flu like symptoms after overexertion. So if they recover in a few days/weeks but get it again after doing something strenuous like sports, work or maybe even intense emotions, that might be it.
It is usually obtained after a viral infection. Epstein Barr Virus and Corona are especially known to do it. It is the mostliest (words escape me, loss of intelligence is also a symptom) thingy of Long Covid.
There isn't a test available yet to reliably diagnose it. But scientists are working on it. Every other month a new study is released showing significant differences between patients and healthy people. Until then it is usually diagnosed by excluding other illnesses and seeing the flu like symptoms after exertion.
No known cure yet. Best treatment is aggressive pacing, ie resting after doing something strenuous. The insidious thing is that you usually don't know when it's too much because the symptoms manifest with a few hours to days delay.
Hope we won't have to greet you in !myalgicencephalomyelitis@lemmy.blahaj.zone and !chronicillness@lemmy.world one day. This thing is a bitch.
if both parents are very sick it's extremely unlikely to be ME/CFS. ME is a rare consequence of viral illness.
How did they rule out COVID or the flu? Most tests that US doctors use are not very good at ruling out either, just confirming. They can do true positives but are not as good at true negatives. Also, to be blunt, many people are in denial about COVID and fib to themselves and others about it. "They ruled it out" might really mean, "we downplayed some of our symptoms and the doctor said that might mean COVID is unlikely".
But there are many respiratory illnesses aside from COVID and the flu and ones that cause a scratchy throat aside from strep throat, which is caused by just one type of bacteria.
I recommend masking in shared indoor spaces to protect yourself. This will also make you better able to help them if needed. And wash your hands + avoid touching your face when around them.
My dad has had flu-like symptoms ending in a lingering cough that went away for about a week before coming back with a vengeance. He finally got diagnosed last week, parainfluenza RNA. Maybe look into that? Lot of people been sick with something flu-like lately.
He's also not contagious and the doctor only gave him an asthma puffer because he was having trouble breathing recently but mostly he's just been taking cough mixture to reduce the symptoms.
Swiss here, can't say I know about sudden weird illnesses going around. If I where to point some fingers I would probably mention the ac in the plane and maybe exhaustion due to physical activity.
Rapid covid tests have a lot of false negatives, so it could be that, or what others have said and just "there's lotta different viruses"
Last month when I went on vacation, I caught something while on the vacation. I would have sworn it was Covid or flu but tests came back negative. Just a bad viral infection. I guess those still exist.
Anything can be curable if you know how to research for natural cures we cannot know about.
Anything is possible if you can do anythingβ¦