Omicron variant: simple cold or Covid-19?

The variant Omicron makes the Planet tremble. It spreads to the speed of light all over Europe. He is extremely contagious, 3 to 4 times more contagious than Delta variant. And it seems that it causes symptoms a little different from Delta variant, closer to the symptoms of a cold or flu. Are there any symptoms specific to the Omicron variant or will it be necessary to get tested at the slightest rhinorrhea?

Symptoms of the Omicron variant

The Omicron variant has only been known since November 23. The data we have are still preliminary. Nevertheless, it seems that the Omicron variant causes milder symptoms than the Delta variant, which may well be a good news ! The symptoms described so far are as follows:

• sore throat
• muscle aches
• tiredness
• dry cough
• night sweats
• headache

Even if these symptoms are very banal in the middle of winter, two of them can challenge. First, the fatigue described by doctors who saw the first cases in South Africa is described as extremely severe. Second, the sweats nocturnal, without being specific to coronavirus, are usually absent in people with a simple cold.

Finally, symptoms of a common cold usually appear gradually while symptoms related to infection with the Omicron variant seem to appear suddenly.

These data must be taken with a lot of hindsight. Indeed, they come from South Africa, a younger population and less vaccinated than the European or American population. We still have to wait a few weeks before knowing whether these data can be transposed to our countries. If in doubt, do not hesitate to get tested!

What if I am vaccinated? … What if I have already had Covid-19?

Unfortunately the vaccination less protective against the Omicron variant. Indeed, the first real life data indicate that protection is only 35% after two doses of a vaccine at MRNA.

This rises to 70% after the third dose. More worryingly, the protection would be zero after a double vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Likewise, data from South Africa indicates that the Omicron variant has the ability to re-infect people with already contracted the disease from another variant.

This means that being vaccinated or having already contracted the disease should not exclude the possibility of being infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Once again, the best way to find out is to get tested.

The coronavirus could end in a simple cold

Researchers have established a probable scenario for the evolution of Covid-19: as reinfections occur, the immune system adapts and causes less and less serious forms, as is the case with the common cold.

Article by Celine Deluzarche, published on January 24, 2021

” The virus is with us forever “WHO warned last November, leaving little hope for a return to normal in the near future. As the death toll from the coronavirus has passed two million and we are close to 100 million cases, a new study published in the journal Science she also suggests that theepidemic of Covid might never end.

But once enough adults have been immunized (by the vaccine or the disease), it will develop into an illness as mild as a common cold, which will circulate at relatively low levels. ” The time it will take to reach this stage depends on how quickly you reach this stage. group immunity. The sooner a majority of people have been infected or vaccinated, the sooner we will reach this endemic stage. “, explains Jennie Lavine, post-doctoral fellow at Emory University in Atlanta and lead author of the study.

Frequent re-infections

The researchers compared the SARS-CoV-2 with the six other coronaviruses affecting humans (the four virus common cold, SARS and MERS). According to them, the new coronavirus behaves like those that cause the common cold. The latter usually infects children at the age of 3 to 5 years for the first time, an age at which the disease is less severe than in adults. Then the infections are repeated regularly until the immune system is strong enough for the infection causes only mild symptoms. In other words, the virus continues to circulate, but it no longer causes deaths. It’s a bit the same thing with the vaccine: even if it does not prevent transmission, it helps limit the number of serious cases.

This vision is shared by many scientists. ” Our health systems will have to adapt to hold up in the long term, because the Covid will be an additional disease to be taken care of. The effects of the coronavirus will be felt for decades to come, attests in The cross Romulus Breban, researcher in the epidemiology of emerging diseases unit at the Institut Pasteur, which analogy with the flu. We live with this seasonal disease and it is no longer treated as a disease of primary importance, although it still kills a lot. We manage to contain epidemics because we have put in place a vaccination strategy and that there are international oversight structures. “

The vaccine, less effective than a natural infection

There are exceptions to this relatively optimistic scenario, however. MERS, for example, does not follow this pattern because it causes high lethality in children. In this case, an early vaccination would be essential as for measles. What would happen also if the virus mutated ? It wouldn’t change much, according to Jennie Lavine and her colleagues. ” Frequent re-infections [avec différentes souches] reinforce theimmunity against other coronaviruses They write. This may however be less true with the immunity provided by the vaccine, since the latter has a reduced number ofepitopes.

While waiting for this phase endemic virus, which could take “several decades” to arrive, the Covid-19 unfortunately still has time to do a lot of damage. The vaccine is our only hope to get rid of it more quickly.