Omicron: Another 'more infectious variant will come' says doctor
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The news of Omicron’s lower severity brought hope to millions that the variant’s burden would be insignificant. But given the speed at which it’s spread, researchers have warned higher infection rate could still overwhelm hospitals and cause deaths. Coronavirus is infamous for infecting both the upper and lower respiratory tracts, but research has shown Omicron is less likely to descend into the lungs, where it can cause pneumonia. Now, however, reports from hospitals overseas are describing a “rapid” increase in the number of older people hospitalised with acute pneumonia after infection from the strain.
Medical experts in Japan have raised the alarm over a marked increase in elderly patients being hospitalised with acute pneumonia after infection from Omicron.
Fujimino Emergency hospital in Japan recently carried out a large number of COVID-19 drive through tests on outpatients to determine the symptomatic illness.
The hospital, which is a health centre designated for COVID-19 patients, has seen an increased number of patients aged 60 and older, more than half of whom are being hospitalised with pneumonia and require ventilators.
The hospital’s director Akira Kano, said: “The hospitalised patients are increasingly older and develop severe symptoms.
READ MORE: Omicron symptoms: Two lesser-known signs of a Covid infection – can persist after recovery
“Elderly patients have received vaccines twice, but that was a while ago, and they are becoming stricken with acute pneumonia.
“The Omicron stars are said to be ‘attenuated’, but that is far from the truth based on what I have seen on the ground.”
Remarks from health experts in the US echo these comments, fanning concerns over the heavy burden the strain has imposed on health bodies.
Doctor Rochelle Walensky, director for the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warned last Wednesday that the “milder illness” associated with Omicron does not mean all illness is “mild”.
She said: “We cannot look past the strain on our health systems and a substantial number of deaths – nearing 2,200 a day as a result of the extremely transmissible Omicron variant.”
The New York Times yesterday detailed the case of a 27-year-old teacher, called Alex Chandler, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 after giving birth on January 9.
It was reported that Omicron accounted for 99.7 percent of COVID-19 infections in the state of Texas that week.
Miss Chandler’s mother reported that on January 14th, her daughter was admitted to hospital after developing pneumonia and pneumothorax – a collapsed lung, which is a recognised complication of COVID-19.
A spokeswoman for Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Belsie González, explained that women tend to have a higher heart rate, lower lung capacity and an impaired immune system during pregnancy.
It had previously been believed that the likelihood of developing was less in comparison to previous strains of the virus.
This is mainly because a growing body of research asserts that this is because the variant is infecting the upper part of the body, as opposed to the lungs, where it is likely to cause infection.
Doctor Scott Robert, professor of infectious disease at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, recently told Medical News Today that less patients are being admitted to ICU with pneumonia.
He said: “A number of laboratory-based studies have now shown that the Omicron variant is less able to infect the lungs as well as other variants, and, as a result, is leading to less patients being admitted with pneumonia who require oxygen and ventilators.”
He added: “We are seeing that the majority of patients infected with Omicron have mild disease that is more localised to the upper respiratory tract and that hospitalisation is not rising as fast as they have with prior variants.”
What’s more, the latest data from the UK Health Security Agency shows that boosters significantly reduce the risk of death with the novel strain.
The data also continues to show high levels of protection against hospitalisation from the booster.
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