With Omicron, Symptoms Are Less Loss Of Smell And More Sore Throat – HuffPost

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COVID-19 – Study after study, the Omicron variant is beginning to tell us more about the symptoms it summons. And while the peak of cases of this fifth wave of Covid led by Omicron expected to be reached in mid-January, a new study sheds light on the case of this insidious variant.

If the Delta variant is still present in France as the famous contamination peak modeled by the Institut Pasteur, it is indeed Omicron which currently circulates and contaminates the most. And it is a new English study published this Friday, January 14 which confirms (half-word) the first impressions of Public Health France on this variant of which the symptoms are almost like a cold, but without actually being one.

“Much less loss of smell and taste with Omicron, but more sore throat than with Delta. Symptom data from approximately 175,000 Omicron cases and 88,000 Delta cases”

According to this study conducted by the British Health Security Agency between December 1 and December 28, sore throat is more likely to be reported with SARS-CoV-2 infection with the Omicron variant than with Delta.

This symptom was reported by 54% of people infected with Omicron, while only 34% of cases linked to the Delta variant reported the presence of sore throat.

The analysis, based on data from 182,133 cases of Omicron and 87,920 cases of Delta in England, also shows that the symptom of loss of taste and smell is less common with Omicron than with Delta. According to data collected by the British agency, 13% of Omicron cases reported these symptoms compared to 34% with the Delta variant.

However, this English study wishes to qualify the scope of its results, which are still early. In particular, she points to a recent study by the University of Oxford, based in part on data from the United Kingdom on the coronavirus, which does not make it possible to make a sore throat a reliable and specific index of an infection. Covid-19 by the Omicron variant.

The reasons for this warning? The survey revealed a significant increase in the symptom of sore throat during positive PCR tests, but also during negative PCR tests over the research period.

An encouragement to be cautious, therefore, but which already allows us to see a little more clearly on the specificities of Omicron. Especially since sore throats are usually caused by a virus, one more reason not to wait to get tested at the slightest warning of this symptom.

Omicron reveals itself

As mentioned earlier, Santé Publique France had already published a first bulletin on January 7 in which it endeavored to list as many symptoms as possible observed in cases positive for the Omicron variant. But unlike the English study mentioned earlier and carried out on a larger panel, this one only listed 338 cases of French origin.

The result was a first sketch of the portrait of Omicron, relatively close to a cold if we consider only the most recurring symptoms: persistent fatigue, cough, fever, headache, sore throat and runny nose.

But that doesn’t mean this strain of the coronavirus should be considered a mild cold. On the contrary, during this winter, it encourages even more caution and vigilance when the symptoms mentioned earlier appear. Unlike the more unusual loss of smell and taste when you get sick, the symptoms of the Omicron variant are much more insidious.

What also explains why he has become the majority variant in France so quickly, passing more easily unnoticed amid the sore throats, coughs and other fevers that usually accompany this cold time of year.

See also on The HuffPost: After Omicron, what will be the future variants?