The symptoms of the new strain of Omicron coronavirus, which is rapidly spreading around the world, are significantly different from the manifestations of previous variants of COVID-19. Symptoms such as shortness of breath, fever, and loss of smell dropped down in the rankings.
This was reported Express citing Tim Spector, who leads the ZOE Covid study, which launched an application that tracks the movement of the pandemic. He and his team analyzed data on the symptoms of Omicron positive cases and compared them with those of Delta and other strains.
It is noted that COVID-19 turned out to be a very sophisticated threat, as it spreads, variants with mutational advantages appear. One of the latest tests was Omicron. This strain is more contagious than previous strains, and mutations in the spike protein have given it an edge against two shots of the coronavirus vaccine.
However, now the world has become much stronger in the fight against COVID-19. Most of the world’s population today has two layers of immunity: natural and vaccine-induced immunity. Because of this, Omicron causes much milder disease than Delta and its predecessors.
Over time, the entire symptom profile of COVID-19 has changed as new variants have come to the fore, Spector said.
“Back in 2020, it became clear that the original and alpha versions of the coronavirus have three very common symptoms: cough, fever and loss of smell, as well as at least 20 other manifestations,” says Specter.
The scientist noted that when Delta appeared, doctors noticed a change in symptoms.
“Cold-like symptoms, including a runny nose, sore throat and persistent sneezing, have increased in frequency, as well as headaches and coughing, especially in people who have been vaccinated,” Spector said.
According to him, Omicron seems to be continuing the trend set by Delta.
“Omicron causes symptoms that are more like the common cold, especially in people who have been vaccinated, and fewer general systemic symptoms such as nausea, muscle pain, diarrhea and skin rashes,” Spector explained.
The professor called five symptoms of Omicron in vaccinated people:
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sneezing
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sore throat
The ZOE team also found that only half of the people vaccinated had one of the three classic symptoms of COVID-1: fever, cough, or loss of smell.
As OBOZREVATEL reported, epidemiologist Natalya Vinograd called the main “minus” of the Omicron strain.
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