Coincidence or....?

My daughter, working in the NHS was ill in March and had to self-isolate, taking her children out of school, husband from his work, etc. She was only able to have a Covid test recently and the result was negative. Presumably it was another random virus but who knows...

I was ill shortly afterwards and have been tested through the 'FluSurvey' scheme but as I have not heard anything further, I am to conclude that I, too, am negative for C-19.

I read that the virus was present in Italy (found via waste water apparently) in December so it is very possible that it has been circulating in Europe towards the end of last year.

I think that this virus has been under-estimated in the general popular but without accurate testing it will be impossible to know.

I was offered a test on the Imperial College scheme but couldn't have the test due to my medications, however, I know of several people who have taken more than one private antibody test (don't ask me why!) and they have had different results!

The information below may be of interest.

'NHS England has confirmed that the antibody test is now available for practices to use as appropriate and where there is not a specific clinical indication for the test, it may be offered to NHS patients already having their blood taken and who wish to know whether they have been infected with COVID-19.

The letter also describes a plan to roll out testing to staff working across primary care.'

I forgot to add that I am blood group A. Least I am female which may mitigate things a little!

My cousin thinks she had it at the end ofNovember as she had all the symptoms and was very ill.
My husband had it in late January after going to his table tennis club where there were some visiting Chinese players. A lot of people from the club were ill. He told me later he thought he was going to die and he is never ill!
I caught it from him and was really ill in February. It was before the virus was widespread over here, so, although I made several visits to the GP, nobody thought of it. I couldn’t breathe and was coughing up blood. I had a very high temperature and lost my sense of smell. GP sent me for a chest x-ray and scan, both of which showed a patch of infection on my lung. Was taking vitamin D which could well have saved my life. Also had steroids. Couldn’t breathe at all and had to call paramedics. Gradually got better and am fine now, as is my husband. Think we both had Covid19 as Chinese visit to club is too coincidental.

I believe it is possible to have or have had Covid 19 without displaying symptoms at all, which might explain why OP's daughter has antibodies in her blood.

You have to have had the virus to have antibodies.

But it may well be that the virus has been around lonnger than we suspect.

I wasn't well in early February, flu like symptoms, awful headaches and worst of all I found it difficult to breathe. I am mildly asthmatic anyway but don't usually have a problem. One evening I was gasping for breath it was very frightening but of course I didn't really know about Covid then. I had an emergency appointment with the doctor, who to be honest wasn't really interested and just told me to double up on my inhaler. I tried to explain I know the difference between an asthma attack and how I was literally gasping for breath. Of course I did recover but around a week or so later my ds had similar symptoms. It was weeks before we both felt fit again. The same week the local news announced that a local family returning from Italy were very ill with Covid. It would be interesting to know if this was simply flu or Covid.

I think the world is dealing with an entirely different animal with this virus than with previous known viruses.

It will drastically change how we routinely deal with others on a social level just as AIDS and herpes changed how many people dealt with sex.

May well be the case about you DDs. Also your GC. There is a finger and toe variation of Covid-19 that children can develop. Could he been tested for antibodies? Hope they are all well.

So sorry to read that sad news. I think it is possible. I even think it was here in November. I can't wait to have an antibody test just to see if I had it then.

I was listening to a phone in on my local radio station at the initial outbreak and a man was on saying he and his girlfriend had been in China in July last year and on return home were both quite ill with high temperature, cough and headache. His girlfriend’s mother had the same but ended up with pneumonia and in hospital. This was all in august last year. This man was convinvced him, his girlfriend and her mum had the virus then. I too think this virus has been round a lot longer than we think.

Italian scientists have been testing wastewater in Northern Italy. Samples from last December show SARS-cov-2- virus were present.
Northern Italy has 1,000s of Chinese migrant workers who fly back and forth all the time.

Yes, we said that ages ago, didn't we! All those factories making lovely Italian goods are manned by Chinese workers yet Italy has a high unemployment rate.
Perhaps the Italians have lost the skills for which they were renowned.

My DH had a cough that lasted for weeks and he felt very unwell. He is pretty sure he has had Covid 19 and wants a test to check it out but of course no joy. I came back from NZ in early February via Dubai and was unwell on my return. I thought it was jet lag but it just went on for far longer. Who knows but it could have been the virus.

The Chinese are presumably much cheaper to employ and then adding “made in Italy” particularly to leather goods, will mean they can ask a premium price. I dread to think what conditions the people are living in.

The Canary Islands have coach trips to huge warehouses full of Chinese made tat. It was part of a day trip but a total waste of time.

A huge learning curve for us all.

were there not some military games competition back in summer last year, that took place in china, poss even in wuhan.
i seem to remember hearing that, and that many of the competitors had to withdraw due to illness, or became v ill shortly after. and of course carried it back all across the world. and then armies etc tend to be drawn from all over a country and go to other countries. extending the spread.
i listen to a lot of radio, think i heard this on the world service.
also i believe that chinese are the largest foreign student group in Uk. we have many near here, who incidentally seem more interested in shopping in the west end than in academia. mostly daughters of v rich factory owners and party big-wigs in china. they come for the craic.
wonder where they are now. gone back presumably.
anyway i too think this novel virus how/wherever it started has been afflicting the world much longer than was thought.

This is a very interesting thread. I have always, rather smugly, said that I don't catch colds, don't get viruses, but by early January both DH and I were on our second bout of a nasty cough and cold, but not flu sysmptoms. I had a really tiring and persistent cough and a couple of times I just took to bed with exhaustion. My SiL and Brother came back from Spain in January, SiL was so poorly with flu like symptoms that the GP had to be called and she was confined to bed for 5 days, again, she is rarely ill. I did hear a report on Radio 4 that French health officials were going over test results of people who had died of 'pneumonia' as far back as December and it has now been acknowledged that many had covid19. I think this has been around for far longer than we have known, and I also believe that the Chinese authorities were not honest and timely in their reporting of the Wuhan outbreak.

I had a flu type virus in the middle of January and I described it at the time as not the worst flu I’d ever had but certainly the worst cold! My DD had a cough all through my illness and when I said I was afraid she would catch what I had she just shrugged it off and said I’ve had a cough for the last few weeks and she thought she had had the same virus but not so badly. Just as I was starting to recover she got a really bad sore throat that lasted for about a week then one morning it disappeared and she felt really sick. For the next few days she suffered diarrhoea and vomiting and a high temperature. I think she had the same virus as me but it came out in her differently. My DGD had swollen glands during this time that just wouldn’t disappear they lasted for weeks. She had a flu type cold eventually at the beginning of March and after that her glands went down. At the time I was ill there was a thread on here where lots of gransnetters were discussing the awful flu type virus they had just had and how they were having difficulty shaking it off. I’d been ill for about week by then but when I read of others experiences I thought I’ve probably got the same bug and I’m just going to have to put up with it for a couple more weeks and accept I’m not going to feel well for a while. It was a horrible virus and it totally wiped me out. I discounted COVID-19 at the time because it seemed it was only in China at that time. My daughter works at a university and my granddaughter goes to the nursery there, they have lots of Chinese students and I catch the bus a lot which also has a lot of the foreign students on. So it’s not impossible I suppose for it to have been the new virus. Would love to have an antibody test to find out.

I said ages ago that I thought I and my neighbour had it last February. She works at the University where many Chinese Students had returned after Chinese New Year and many come from the Wuhan area. However, I believe that this upper respiratory tract virus that gets so quickly into the lungs has been around for a longer time than we have been told by Scientists who have been relating it to the Wuhan outbreak.
I am impressed with how most people put so much faith in the tests and accept the results even after what their experience has told them. Until this COVID experience I would happily have my flu injection and trust they knew which version of flu was on its way and how to fight it off. Now I have been studying viruses and vaccines. In fact, by coincidence, I was following a University series of lectures on viruses last September! I almost wish I hadn't learnt what I have especially about the vaccines. I know now that by no means do they all work and that many are likley to make you ill. The test for antibodies is rather an unreliable test too apparently.
The whole experience in the UK has been of floundering from one government idea to the next always in the wake of disasters and behind the time when action was needed. The coronavirus tracing app is a laughable cock-up (is that ok to say here?) and I for one have given up expecting anything from it.
Coronavirus is the virus that causes the common cold - we all know - the new one, SARS-CoV-2, surely is going to throw up antibodies similar to the common cold? Yet we keep getting colds. So we know the antibodies don't live long or the common cold is particularly adaptable.

I honestly think this corona virus will die out if we behave sensibly. If you are vulnerable, have a health condition that makes you weak in the face of a respiratory virus, then keep away from people until it goes. Have fresh air as much as you can, preferably in the sunshine. The anxiety that all the reactions and lack of work plus people being so frightened, on top of the barbarous treatment of Care Home Residents and Staff, has made people ill. We need to look after each other, keep our spirits up and hold on to our common sense. Enjoy the sunshine and as much as you can enjoy each day.
With lots of love to everyone, Elle ???

I had all the symptoms mid November, and was diagnosed with a chest infection. My COPD went from mild to moderate.

My DS and his partner were ill over the Christmas holiday with hacking coughs, high temperatures. DS had it more severely than his partner and had breathing difficulty. My DS partner is a scientist with a well known pharmaceutical company, and they had scientists visiting from various parts of the world at that time. I think as others have said, we can’t rule out that the virus was around late last year.

Thank you all for your comments and remarks. They have all made very interesting reading and I hope you, your families and friends all fully recover in time. What is noticeable is how many people have been exceptionally unwell. We all expect to get coughs, colds and flu especially in winter but your stories are all of illnesses far in excess of what we should be expecting. Even amongst people who are rarely ill. My DDs are generally fit and well. I would have put their illnesses down as just being an unfortunate coincidence had DD2 not had the antibody test. The possibility of false negative results is worrying. Perhaps they should have a "best of three" approach. Though I think a false negative result is far less dangerous than a false positive one, which may result in people still at risk having a false sense of safety. I doubt we will ever really find out what was happening in Britain before March. I only hope we have done enough to keep us safe from a second peak. Keep well and stay safe. Xx

There were lots of people with the same symptoms as described here
My sister and her whole family had it over Christmas,so did my daughter who had 2 lots of antibiotics,then steroids and sent for an X ray, she had a shadow on her lung which was when she was given the second lot of ABs
It does make you wonder,and there were 2 threads on Mumsnet about people who had this too
I do believe it was connected to Covid 19,as we were not informed of this soon enough,
Probably the Government hoping it would blow over

Do you mean the Chinese Government bondenana?
They were the ones hiding the truth and whistle blowers were silenced.

In January my son and a workmate had to travel to Germany for three days to sell a new product to German engineering,
On return after a couple of days ,my son had a raging temperature ,but he was shivery at the same time , accompanied by a hacking cough and sore throat, He said at the time he had never felt so ill , his workmate reported feeling the same,
Could that have been Covid. I suspect it was, I think it was around before we officially knew,

I read a university research paper saying it’s possible 4 million people in UK might have had it and reading all the stories here it seems quite likely !! I’m very grateful for everyone sharing stories I learn so much !! I was ill in January after passing through Venice airport. I was coughing so much I was going through a whole carrier bag of tissues every day for 10 days ! I had antibiotics and a nasty lung scan and the doctor put me on high dose of Vit D, vit C , immune support powder. Ive stayed on that ever since. Then in early March got a mild dose of Covid ( thank God for vit D !). Recently I had a/b test which showed negative. But Prof Sikora said a lot of people were fighting Covid with T cell system so wouldn’t show antibodies. Only 10% do. So I’ll be shielding until 0 cases.

DD3 returned from a work trip to NY at the end of February feeling very unwell with a high temp, cough and very sore throat which she put down originally to air travel. She has since learned that 2 of the people she was working with have had confirmed Covid and is now convinced that is what she had. Her DH & children have had no symptoms. Maybe she’ll never know...