KOLKATA: From fever, body ache, loose motion, sore throat to night sweats and cough, never has Covid-19 come with so many varied symptoms of the infection in the earlier waves of the pandemic. Doctors said that changed clinical manifestations of the infection this time indicates that the majority of infection this time is caused by the Omicron variant.
Take the example of pulmonologist Dhiman Ganguly who tested positive recently. At his late 70s, the senior physician had only mild fever for about 36 hours, sore throat and mild cough.
“In many occasions the symptoms look like a passing flu. Therefore, severity wise, Omicron definitely is causing a milder disease but with higher infectivity. And due to the sheer number, patients needing intensive care treatment could rise,” said Ganguly.
Seven days ago, IT professional Sudip Bakshi felt feverish after dinner. At night he was shivering and then sweating. Next day his swab samples tested positive.
“The rigor and chill made me wonder if I had malaria. But my doctor told me to go for the Covid test. Even while my test report arrived the fever started disappearing and it was completely gone by the third day. Now days down, I am feeling fine apart from pain in lower back, the hip, lower limb and heaviness in the head,” said Bakshi.
Unlike the second wave when Delta had caused the surge, majority of the infected — young and old alike — would gasp, complain of loss of smell and taste and the fever would drag on for a week or two in many cases. But this third wave with Omicron being the dominant variant, the symptoms of the infections have changed, often overlapping with common flu.
“Some of the symptoms will overlap even with that of dengue and chikungunya because these are viral infections. But Omicron so far is not invasive and most common symptoms are scratchy throat, soreness, dry cough and blocked nose indicative of only the upper respiratory involvement,” said internal medicine specialist Syamasis Bandyopadhyay of Apollo.
Doctors said in most cases of Delta variant lung involvement was the cause of the infected requiring oxygen. A good number of recovered patients would suffer from long Covid that continued for two to three weeks post hospital discharge.
“The current variant of the virus has lost its virulence. It is causing overlapping symptoms with seasonal diseases like common cold and also dengue and malaria. Therefore, there is no need for any panic but to be aware of warning signals that would warrant medical attention,” said virologist Amitava Nandi.
Even the recovery from the symptoms is also relatively faster this time that has led to the change in isolation and treatment protocol.
