Better World: enero 2022

From the beginning, COVID-19 has been an insidious shape-shifter, spinning off variant after variant as the virus learns to adapt and evolve. That has been a problem not just because such mutability helps it spread—as the extreme infectiousness of the Omicron variant shows—but also because as the virus changes so do the symptoms it causes, making it harder to determine whether you have COVID-19 or a common cold or flu.

Early in the pandemic, coughing, fever, difficulty breathing and a loss of taste and smell were the hallmarks of the infection. But, as my colleague Jamie Ducharme reports, that has changed with the emergence of Omicron. During the current wave, many people are reporting symptoms more in line with the common cold, with some puzzling additions—like lower back pain.

So just what are the most common signs that you’ve contracted a case of Omicron?

Watch out for five symptoms: runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and sore throat, says Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist who founded the consumer health company ZOE, which runs a COVID-19 symptom tracking app to which more than 4.7 million people have contributed data.

Lower-back pain associated with Omicron has yet to be fully explained, but more and more studies are reporting it, including one by South Africa’s largest health insurer.

Loss of taste and smell, though not as common as with earlier variants, can continue to be a symptom of Omicron, report both ZOE and a small study from Norway.

Upper respiratory symptoms are common with Omicron, since that is where the virus tends to accumulate, as opposed to deeper in the lungs like other variants. This could help explain Omicron’s reduced lethality.

Overall, data from early Omicron hotspots including South Africa, the U.K. and New York City agree that the variant causes milder symptoms than its older cousins. A U.K. report from late December 2021, for example, found that, compared to people infected by the Delta variant, those with Omicron-related infections were about half as likely to seek care in an emergency department or require hospitalization.

All the same, more severe symptoms are certainly possible with Omicron, and, as with earlier variants, an infection can potentially lead to lasting complications like Long COVID.

As to how you can tell if you’ve been infected with Omicron or another variant? You generally can’t. When you take most standard COVID-19 tests, you’ll only get a positive or negative result; if you’re infected, it won’t tell you which strain is the culprit. No matter what, even if your case is mild, you’ll need to rest and isolate yourself from others until symptoms subside

Source: Time