These symptoms have omicron-infected in South Africa – Dagsavisen

So far, it is too early to determine whether the newly discovered coronary variant omicron has different symptoms than previous variants. But one of the first doctors in South Africa to discover patients with what turned out to be the new omicron variant reports it. Dr. Angelique Coetzee, who runs a doctor’s office in Pretoria, discovered some unusual cases of coronary heart disease, which in turn led to the discovery of the omicron variant. She has said in interviews that the patients she has met have had mild symptoms.

Slackness

It all started with her meeting people who had what she thought were unusual symptoms. One patient who came in was very limp and had body aches and a little headache. He had no sore throat, no cough, no loss of sense of smell and taste, which is otherwise often reported with covid-19.

Both this patient and the rest of the family tested positive.

– Everyone had very, very mild symptoms, says Coetzee in an interview with host Andrew Marr, who has his own program on BBC.

She received several patients on the same day who all tested positive, but with a symptom pattern that did not quite fit with the delta variant. She contacted the advisory committee for vaccines to the government, and said that something was different. This led to the new variant being detected.

– What we see in South Africa, and I am in the epicenter, are extremely mild cases. We have not admitted any patients. “I have talked to colleagues of mine who say the same thing,” Coetzee told the BBC.

She says slackness is a major symptom among those she has met. In addition, they have mild headaches, tenderness in the body and in some cases a slightly itchy (but not very sore) throat, or a slight cough.

“The interesting thing is that all the patients who had very sore throats tested negative,” says Coetzee, according to The Republic.

However, these are preliminary findings among only a small group of patients. The WHO does not say that yet is some information that indicates a different symptom picture than with previous coronary variants.

The four most common symptoms of coronavirus in general are according to the WHO cough, fever, lethargy and sore throat. Of these, only the weakness of Coetzee’s patients reported. The WHO’s list of less common symptoms (generally of coronary heart disease) includes sore throat, headache, body aches, diarrhea, itchy skin, unusual color of fingers and toes, red and irritated eyes.

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Too early

A number of countries have introduced entry bans or stricter restrictions for travelers from southern Africa to prevent the introduction of omicron infections. When asked by Andrew Marr whether Angelique Coetzee thinks Britain, the United States, Israel and Europe have panicked unnecessarily, Coetzee answers this:

– I think you already have it in your country, without knowing it.

And omikron is being discovered in more and more countries. As of Monday afternoon, the variant had been detected in South Africa and Botswana, and in addition the following countries have detected cases of infection as of Monday afternoon: Denmark, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, Israel.

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But Angelique Coetzee emphasizes that it is still too early to say anything. It is not yet known how the variant will affect older and vulnerable people. Most patients she has met have been around 40 years or younger. She says about half of them have been unvaccinated. After the first patient on November 18, she has received two or three every day.

– What we are worried about now is whether we will see more seriously ill when older, unvaccinated people are infected by the new variant, Coetzee says in an interview with The Telegraph.

Countries in Europe have a much older population than South Africa. In South Africa, only 6 percent of the population is over 65, according to figures from the World Bank. In Norway, the proportion is 18 percent, in Italy even higher: 23 percent – and in Japan as much as 28 percent, according to the same statistics.

Richard Lessells, a specialist in infectious diseases in South Africa, also warns that it is too early to say anything about how severely affected the omicron variant can be.

– We hear some doctors say that all cases are mild. I think we have to be a little careful about this, because it has mostly been about younger people, and as we know they do not have a high risk of getting seriously ill anyway, he says to the South African News24.

It is also a short time since the first cases were discovered, and it often takes a week or two before the infected person is admitted.

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WHO: – Very high risk

The omicron variant of covid-19 is likely to spread worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

– The omicron variant will probably spread internationally and poses a very high risk. New large increases in infection can have serious consequences in some regions, the organization says in a statement.

What makes the variant has attracted attention is that it has a record number of mutations, ie that it differs even more from the original virus than previous variants.

It is likely that the variant is more contagious than the delta variant and will spread to Norway, but it is so far unlikely that the variant causes more serious disease, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health’s risk report which was submitted on Sunday.

It is not known how well the existing vaccines work on the new variant. Vaccine manufacturers can adjust their vaccines, and medical director Paul Burton of vaccine manufacturer Moderna says an adjusted vaccine may be available early in 2022 if needed.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has reacted strongly to the fact that many countries have introduced entry bans from countries in southern Africa.

“We ask all countries that have introduced entry bans from our country and our sister countries in southern Africa, to quickly reverse this and lift the ban before further damage is done to our economies,” Ramaphosa said on Sunday.

He is supported by Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Director General for Africa, who points out that the variant has already been proven in several regions of the world, and who believes that travel restrictions on Africa are an attack on global solidarity. South Africa has been praised internationally for having discovered the variant early.

Experts believe that entry bans can buy other countries time and slow down the import infection, but that the omicron variant will come and spread anyway.

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