Recently the world is worried about the upsurge of the new variant cases. The countries across the world are taking stringent measures to control the spread of the infection. This has been termed as the “virus of concern “by WHO. It has been discovered in various countries now. The cases are on a rise in South Africa since the beginning of this month.
What all information do we have?
- Symptoms: Not much has been figured out about the difference in the symptoms of this and the previous strains. However, Dr. Angelique Coetzee, Head of the South African Medical Association who had first studied about the strain has said that the symptoms associated with Omicron are :
- Extreme tiredness
- Mild symptoms
- No cases of severe dip in oxygen saturation
- Muscle ache and scratch throat
- Only a few developed high temperatures
- Patients infected with Omicron haven’t reported any loss of taste or smell
- Severity: It is not yet clear whether it is more severe than other strains or not.
- Spread: It is assumed to spread faster than the delta strain, however if this does not have much medical backing as of now.
- Treatment: Corticosteroids and IL6 receptors have seen to be effective.
- Are vaccines effective against it? The vaccine manufacturing companies are still researching about this fact.
Should we worry about Omicron?
Lack of information does make it important for us to take all the precautions. This has approximately 50 mutations and around 30 are spike protein mutations. This strain could be dreadful.
We should keep our guards high is a situation of uncertainty and protect ourselves from infection.
