Cough, fatigue … what we know about the symptoms of the Omicron variant – LCI

After the Delta variant of Covid-19, the most common in the world, it is the turn of the Omicron mutation to be highly monitored by the authorities. On December 9, Public Health France had already identified 59 cases on French territory. But if the authorities initially feared that it was more virulent than the Delta variant, the first observations carried out abroad tend to show that the symptoms are milder. Even though scientists are taking precautions.

According to its initial observations, the WHO has mainly identified mild cases of infection. On Thursday, the organization’s director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, spoke of “evidence that Omicron causes less severe symptoms than Delta”, before adding that he “is too early to be sure”.

The next day, Michael Ryan, the WHO emergency manager, confirmed this observation during an interview with AFP. “The general behavior we are seeing so far shows no increase in severity”, he said, relying in particular on “milder symptoms” observed in southern Africa.

A report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States clarified the symptoms experienced by patients, based on the 43 cases of the Omicron variant identified in the United States, reported Business Insider. They first noted that only one of these infected people was hospitalized and that she was released from the hospital after two days.

As for the symptoms, “cough, fatigue, congestion or runny nose” are the most frequently reported, symptoms similar to those of the common cold. Fever, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath and diarrhea have also been reported, but to a lesser extent. Only three people presented with a loss of taste or smell, while very many patients with other strains of Covid-19 have reported it.

The US health authority has also stressed that the majority of people who have contracted the Omicron variant were vaccinated. This is also one of the points put forward by some scientists to explain the lesser severity of the first cases of the variant.

For Vaughn Cooper, the director of the Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh cited by Business Insider, it is the immunity conferred by vaccination or a former Covid infection that protects people infected with severe forms of the disease. sickness.

But other scientists have explained that the number of cases has so far been too low to draw conclusions about Omicron’s virulence. “I am very hesitant to draw any conclusions about the severity of the infections. The severe forms in patients usually appear 2-4 weeks after the onset of a wave. At the moment, we see mostly mild infections, but it is was expected. Omicron has only been emerging for a fortnight ” South African epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim explained in an interview published by The world.

“There is no red flag at this point, but that doesn’t mean Omicron only causes mild infections.” he concluded.