{"id":30296,"date":"2020-10-03T13:26:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-03T17:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=30296"},"modified":"2020-10-03T13:27:43","modified_gmt":"2020-10-03T17:27:43","slug":"covid-19-swab-test-proves-again-to-be-dangerous-and-unsafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=30296","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 Swab Test Proves Again to be DANGEROUS and UNSAFE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"alpha\">\n<div id=\"js-article-text\" class=\"article-text wide heading-tag-switch\">\n<h2>Iowa woman in her 40s with a skull defect started leaking BRAIN FLUID out of her nose after getting a swab test for COVID-19<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>A woman in her 40s got tested for COVID-19 before undergoing a hernia surgery<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><b>Soon after the test, clear fluid started running from her nose, she got nauseous, vomited\u00a0and developed\u00a0head and neck stiffness and a metallic\u00a0taste<\/b><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><b>Scans revealed a small hole at the base of her skull was leaking protective cerebrospinal fluid into her nasal cavity\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><b>The University of Iowa report found that the swab had caused &#8216;trauma&#8217; to an opening in the woman&#8217;s skull from a pre-existing defect\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>By Natalie Rahhal Us Health Editor<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A woman in her 40s began leaking brain fluid from her nose after getting swabbed for COVID-19 testing, a new case report reveals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Health care workers often jokingly describe nasopharyngeal swabs &#8211; the extra-long Q-tips used for many <a id=\"mol-0d04de20-0436-11eb-b636-4df81ee905c1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/coronavirus\/index.html\">coronavirus<\/a> tests &#8211; &#8216;brain-scraping&#8217; implements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But for the Iowa woman, that joke was too near to reality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Shortly after she went for COVID-19 testing, the woman&#8217;s nose started dripping profusely, her head started hurting and she became so nauseous she was vomiting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">When her head and neck got stiff and she tasted metal, the woman went to the doctor, where scans revealed a hole at the base of her skull.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Cerebrospinal fluid &#8211; a protective clear liquid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord &#8211; was dripping from her nose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">It&#8217;s the first time doctors have reported the alarming and potentially dangerous leak, triggered by the dreaded coronavirus test swabs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But in the case report, published Thursday, the University of Iowa doctors noted that the swab alone didn&#8217;t cause the leak. The woman had an undiagnosed skull defect, and when the small opening was prodded by the swab, it became wide enough for brain fluid to seep out.<\/p>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-a6050b17d540f064\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2020\/10\/01\/23\/33878126-8796119-Scans_fo_the_woman_s-m-16_1601591301533.jpg\" alt=\"Scans of the woman's brain revealed an undiagnosed opening at the base of her skull. After the swab 'caused trauma' to the spot, she began leaking cerebrospinal fluid\" width=\"634\" height=\"303\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Scans of the woman&#8217;s brain revealed an undiagnosed opening at the base of her skull. After the swab &#8217;caused trauma&#8217; to the spot, she began leaking cerebrospinal fluid<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Nearly 104 million Americans have been tested for coronavirus since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shipped out its first batch of (flawed) coronavirus tests in February.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In that time, more than seven million people have tested positive. An estimated less than five percent of all people tested may have received false positives, and others have likely received a false negative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">When test kits were scarce and the city suddenly seemed overrun by coronavirus, New York officials advised against getting tested for COVID-19 unless someone had symptoms or a fairly definitive exposure &#8211; both to preserve kits and for fear people might simply get infected at the sites where they went to get tested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But no one had ever reported a health problem as a result of testing itself &#8211; until now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The woman, who was not named in the case report, was scheduled to have surgery to repair a hernia in July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">By then, non-emergency and elective surgeries had resumed across the US, but hospitals continue to require COVID-19 testing prior to operations, in order to protect doctors, nurses, and the health care system itself from outbreaks of coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">COVID-19 tests are now performed using samples taken in one of three ways: by nasopharyngeal swab, by lower naries (nostril) swab, or saliva, collected in a test tube.<\/p>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-ec7d5d9534927bef\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2020\/10\/01\/23\/33880346-8796119-image-a-17_1601591427301.jpg\" alt=\"Nasopharyngeal swabs are sometimes described as 'brain-scraping' - but the bone of a normal skull protects the brain from the swabs\" width=\"634\" height=\"406\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Nasopharyngeal swabs are sometimes described as &#8216;brain-scraping&#8217; &#8211; but the bone of a normal skull protects the brain from the swabs<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The woman was given the dreaded nasopharyngeal swab, which clinicians work up into the far upper reaches of nostrils, where the nasal passageway connects to the throat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Above this pocket are layers of muscle and connective tissue and then the hard bone of the skull &#8211; in most people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Shortly after her test, the woman felt nauseous in addition to her runny nose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Those symptoms evolved, until her head and neck were stiff, a metallic taste lingered in her mouth and she became light-sensitive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Her physicians took CT scans of her skull as well as photographs of her nasopharyngeal passageway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Those images revealed a hole at the base of her skull, opening into the very space where she&#8217;d been swabbed for coronavirus testing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Scans taken of the woman&#8217;s in 2017 showed that the defect was already there, and the brain fluid leak happened after the swab &#8217;caused trauma&#8217; to the pre-existing issue.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/health\/article-8796119\/Iowa-woman-leaked-brain-fluid-nose-COVID-19-swab-test.html\">https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/health\/article-8796119\/Iowa-woman-leaked-brain-fluid-nose-COVID-19-swab-test.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}