Not only brain fog and cough but also extreme fatigue! 20% more likely to develop COVID-19 if infected with BA.2 strains?
What are the symptoms of COVID-19? Has nothing to do with the confirmed condition?
Although the symptoms of confirmed Omicron are mild, the patient may still suffer from various symptoms of “LONG COVID”? According to the British National Health Service (NHS), some cases of COVID-19 will continue to have various symptoms for several weeks after recovering from the infection, which is called “long COVID-19”. While most people get better within days or weeks, the onset of COVID-19 does not appear to be related to the severity of the disease at diagnosis.
According to NHS data, the most common symptoms of COVID-19 are: extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain and tightness, memory and concentration decline (brain fog), heart palpitations, dizziness, restlessness, joint pain, depression and anxiety, tinnitus, nausea and diarrhea Gastrointestinal symptoms such as stomach pain.
In addition, patients with COVID-19 may also have persistent coughs, headaches, sore throats, changes in taste or smell, and in some people may also manifest as skin rashes. When these symptoms occur, blood tests, blood pressure tests, electrocardiograms, X-rays, etc. must be performed to rule out whether they are caused by other diseases.
Infection with the BA.2 mutant strain increases the risk of developing COVID-19 by 20%?
The latest statistics released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the risk of “long-COVID” sequelae differs between infections with different mutant strains. Among people infected with Delta and Omicron BA.1, the likelihood of developing “COVID-19” when infected with Delta was 50.3% higher.
However, compared with those infected with Omicron BA.1, the risk of developing COVID-19 in people diagnosed with Omicron BA.2 has increased, from 1 in 15 people to developing symptoms to 1 in 12 people reporting symptoms of COVID-19.
It is worth noting that among those who have received three doses of the vaccine, the probability of developing COVID-19 after being infected with Omicron BA.2 is 21.8% higher than that after being infected with Omicron BA.1. It is possible, as the scientific community has previously speculated, that the third dose of the vaccine is not as protective as the first two doses. But it could just be the result of decreased protection over time.
Scientists still have different opinions on the definition and research of “COVID-19” because symptoms and data come from patients’ self-descriptions and memories and are not reliable objective data. However, there is currently no more objective and feasible way to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on patients.
Koen Pouwels, a human health researcher at the University of Oxford, pointed out in a media interview that the proportion of diagnoses officially classified as “COVID-19” at this stage is actually not high. The usual definition of COVID-19 should refer to symptoms lasting more than 12 weeks. Since the speed of virus mutation and the risk of a pandemic are still unknown, this standard should be unified in the future to study the true scope of the new coronavirus.
30% of those diagnosed may have “COVID-19”! Neurological symptoms last the longest?
According to the Bulletin of Harvard Medical School, “COVID-19” refers to a series of symptoms that appear 4-8 weeks after acute infection. It is believed that about 30% of patients may develop “COVID-19”. These ongoing symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue, and even after recovery, patients may still experience chest discomfort, pain, dizziness, vomiting, brain fog, and other reactions.
Nahid Bhadelia, co-director of the Massachusetts government’s COVID-19 response plan and an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center, said in an interview that “growing COVID-19” may be related to diabetes and the level of virus at the time of diagnosis. In some cases, the virus persists in the body and triggers an immune system response.
These abnormal immune responses may worsen inflammation in the body, causing a variety of symptoms. Jason Maley, director of the COVID-19 Treatment Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, pointed out that clinically, it can be found that the respiratory symptoms of confirmed patients improve the fastest, while symptoms related to neurological effects, such as brain fog, usually last longer.
Maley emphasized that the existence of COVID-19 is “pretty clear” and more and more studies have proven that abnormally active immune responses after certain infections are related to symptoms of COVID-19. Scientists are also beginning to study whether virus remnants remaining in the body after diagnosis may trigger the immune system. Or it is caused by genetic factors. However, the cause of this abnormal immunity “remains unclear.”
Maley warned that Omicron is very contagious and has pushed up the number of confirmed cases worldwide. It can be speculated that there will be more long-term COVID-19 cases among the confirmed cases. At this stage, there is no information about Omicron itself, and we can be optimistic that it will not cause COVID-19. Scientists need to continue to pay attention.
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Long-term effects of coronavirus (long COVID)
Hints of a long COVID wave as Omicron fades
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