Sore throat, headache, runny nose, muscle aches, fatigue, fever, dry cough. These are the main symptoms of the novel coronavirus omicron variant, Already responsible for the majority of Covid cases in Brazil.
Consultant infectious disease specialist by g 1 We point out that Omicron, with dozens of mutations related to the original virus, tends to infect the upper regions of the respiratory tract, such as the throat, which explains the occurrence of these symptoms.
This difference in the clinical manifestation of the disease makes cases of loss of taste and smell, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, the very characteristic symptoms of the onset of a pandemic, increasingly rare.
This is also due to the fact that the variable is currently finding a file Most of the vaccinated population Which, in many cases, had already run an episode of Covid. Thus, in many cases, the variant infects a person who already has some immune response to Sars-cov-2 (although not specifically to the new variant).
“Omicron can no longer find a completely raw host,” explains Carla Kobayashi, an infectious disease specialist at Sirio Hospital Lebanon.
Here are the main symptoms reported by doctors:
- sore throat
- Nasal congestion/runny nose
- Body fatigue or muscle pain (myalgia)
- fatigue
- Fever (in some cases not very severe and more common in adults)
- Dry cough (usually accompanied by a sore throat)
- stomach problems (more rarely)
Symptoms are similar to those reported Studying the symptoms of Zoe-Covid disease, a project by King’s College London. The study, which records, via a smartphone, how hundreds of thousands of sufferers feel in the UK, indicated that Britons suffer from the five main symptoms: runny nose, headache, fatigue (mild or severe), nasal congestion / runny nose, sore throat.
The researchers compared data from December 2021 (when Omicron became dominant in the UK) with data from early October (when Delta was dominant).
“With omicron we do not have this characteristic. I have only seen one case since then.”
“The most common symptom is a sore throat,” says Lina Paula, an infectious disease specialist at Beneficência Portuguesa in São Paulo. “Before, we were talking more about a fever, now it’s a sore throat. It is a feeling of itching in the throat or even pain. In second place is a cold (runny nose) and in third place I say that there is stress and fatigue in the body accompanied by pain.”
The infection specialist also notes that some patients have developed a milder fever, usually around 38°C. Symptoms such as diarrhea and headache, although less common, are also associated.
Paula explains that the Omicron virus has an affinity, what scientists call a “viral bulge,” to multiply in the upper respiratory airways (nasal cavity, pharynx). Thus, some patients have a greater tendency for viral replication in the region of the pharynx, where the throat is located.
This causes a greater inflammatory effect. That’s why these people suffer from a sore throat more than a runny nose.”
However, for a specialist, why omnin has this property is something that still needs to be investigated by scientists.
Jamal Suleiman, an infectious disease specialist at the Emilio Ribas Institute, points out that all symptoms commonly associated with omicron have an essential characteristic: its demise.
“These are symptoms that go away very quickly,” Solomon says. This itchy feeling in the throat, usually accompanied by a dry cough, is the longest. Sometimes it can last up to two weeks. But the cough is not severe it bothers you.”
“At the beginning of the epidemic, we saw that the average duration of illness was 7 to 14 days, and today we are talking about 3 to 7 days,” Paola also confirms.
Do children and the elderly have different symptoms with Omicron?
Experts suggest that the variant maintained symptoms across all age groups. The difference, in these cases, is the severity of the disease presentation.
though, Although children are less likely to develop severe symptoms of Covida The probability is not zero.
The omicron variant has caused an unprecedented increase in admissions to pediatric intensive care units in state capitals. Only in the state of São Paulo, The number of children and adolescents admitted to hospital in intensive care units (ICUs) increased by 61% in the past two months.
Experts heard before g 1 Pointing out that a sore throat is also a symptom that affects young adults. However, in children, recognizing these symptoms is more difficult because young children cannot express what they are feeling. So parents need to pay attention to signs such as loss of appetite.
“In both young children and the elderly who cannot express themselves, it is important to be attentive. But this is something that is important not only for Covid, but for all diseases,” says Lena Paula.
The infectious disease specialist also warns that in these cases, when patients are unable to take fluids and eat properly, they may experience dizziness, although this is a rare symptom.
“This was not as important a symptom as it was in recent strains,” he says.
“Dizziness is largely a neurological symptom of vertigo. It does not fall into the classification of flu-like symptoms,” Dr. Karla Kobayashi adds.
Pulmonary symptoms are no longer common
The omicron variant – also known as B.1.1529 – was reported to the World Health Organization on November 24, 2021. Since then, with the predominance of these cases, the picture of the main symptoms associated with Covid has changed a lot.
According to the analysis Studying the symptoms of Zoe-Covid diseaseHowever, loss of smell and taste is not very common in people with oomicron. The project noted that the symptoms were among the 10 most cited symptoms in early 2021. It currently ranks 17th, with only one in five people reporting a decreased sense of smell and taste.
“It’s very rare these days,” says Solomon.
He shows that episodic manifestations of the previous variants had two phases: people had a flu-like syndrome, with stuffy, runny nose, malaise and fever. At the end of the first week, the individual had lung problems.
“With omicron we don’t have this characteristic. I’ve only seen one case since then“, Highlights.
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