[nudephil (OP)]

Here's a question from listener Richard:

I contracted pneumonia in March 2019 and was admitted to Chorley Hospital, Lancashire. I was 70 years of age at the time and I live alone.

My symptoms included a very dry cough (diagnosed as an upper respiratory infection) and a high temperature. After triage, I was transferred into an isolation ward. My treatment was an intense course of antibiotics.

I was interrogated by the consultant as to which countries I had recently visited and/or whether I had been in contact with any foreigners. No in both cases. I asked why the questions. Answer - the strain you have is not found in the UK. I did recover after 1 week.

Might the virus have have been an early version of COVID-19?

Can anyone help?

[Bored chemist]

If it was (successfully) treated with antibiotics, it wasn't a virus.

[alancalverd]

Antibiotics certainly wouldn't treat the virus, but the principal problem with older coronavirus patients is often a secondary infection that can't be shaken off when the respiratory system is compromised in response to the virus.

"The strain you have is not found in the UK." deserves investigation: whatever Nicola Sturgeon's territorial ambitions may be, Chorley is still in the UK.

[set fair]

Richard would need to contact his local gp's surgery and find out which bug was a strain not found in the UK.