Coronavirus-infected infectious disease specialist details personal COVID-19 battle

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An infectious disease specialist in Virginia is opening up about her personal battle with the very virus that she and other experts in her field are working tirelessly to understand: the coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19.

Dr. Mary E. Schmidt, an associate professor of Clinical Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, spoke to Fox News about her experience and recovery from the novel virus. Read on for a look at how the virus affected her and what advice she has to others who may experience it.

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Fox News: When did you first notice symptoms? What were they?

Dr. Schmidt: I first noticed symptoms in the first week of March. I had sneezing, a mild sore throat that progressed to burning in my sinuses, a headache, sore lymph nodes in my neck, and then burning in my chest with a dry cough, fever, and bronchospasm over a period of about a week.

Fox News: When and how did the disease progress in your experience?

Schmidt: It was about four days from the time of a headache and burning in my sinuses to the fever, cough, and bronchospasm. I needed to use an inhaler several times a day.  I had only rarely used my inhaler in the past and only when I would have wheezing with aerobic exercise or [in] extreme cold weather.

Fox News: How do you think you were exposed?

Schmidt: Most likely in Aspen, Co., which had the highest incidence of infected people per capita the last week of February, out enjoying the town and the mountain. The following week it was identified that 13 people were infected with COVID-19. When testing began in Aspen, they found more infected people and community spread was documented. Restaurants in the town and on the mountain are very crowded. We were entertaining guests and were in town or on the mountain, in restaurants and entertainment venues multiple times every day.

Fox News: Did a test confirm your diagnosis?

Schmidt: The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test was a false negative. I had a positive antibody test for IgM antibodies.

Fox News: What surprised you the most about the virus?

Schmidt: The cough is really a dry cough, it is not with a lot of phlegm from bacterial bronchitis. As the virus was replicating, I had a lot of burning in my throat, my sinuses and my airways.

Fox News: What did you do to manage your symptoms?

Schmidt: At the same time, I was having a severe arthritis problem with my left knee and unfortunately I took a lot of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications that may have blunted my long-term immune response. It did help me feel better as did Tylenol and my lung inhaler. Chicken soup was all I ate for a week; it was all I wanted.

Fox News: Were you ever concerned you needed to be hospitalized?

Schmidt: Day three of my cough, I had difficulty sleeping from a sense of shortness of breath but waited it out. Not recommended.

Fox News: Are you recovered now?

Schmidt: Not completely — waves of fatigue and need to sleep more than usual.

Fox News: Overall, was the illness more severe than you anticipated?

Schmidt: A medical journal article that reported over a thousand patients from Wuhan, China, had been published by the time I had the cough and fever. From that study, I knew that having a temperature under 100.4 occurred in about 40 percent of people and that lung inflammation was common in those who had developed lung disease. I believed I was having an average course. U.S. hospital physicians at that time did not realize how quickly pulmonary symptoms could progress to the need for a ventilator.

CORONAVIRUS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Fox News: What is something you’d like for others to know about the virus or what it’s like to be infected?

Schmidt: 

1. The cough can progress to a sense of shortness of breath and need from oxygen very quickly. Should this happen people should call 911.
2.  For most individuals, the symptoms will be mild and manageable. We now know some people will have no symptoms but have the virus replicating in their posterior nose and throat area and be contagious. It is important that these people are identified so they will stay isolated and not infect other people. Most people are not given the opportunity to save someone’s life and staying away from others with an active infection could save someone’s life.
3. Keep your hands off your face, which includes not eating with your fingers.