In Italy the virus has resumed its run. In yesterday’s bulletin, Thursday 7 April, the new positives in the 24 hours were 69,596. There are 150 victims. There is a slight increase in admissions to intensive care. The surge in infections, therefore, shows no sign of subsiding driven by Omicron and the sub-variant Omicron 2.
But not only. In recent days, general practitioners have begun to detect new symptoms different from those that have emerged so far with Omicron. Back there lack of taste and smell (characteristic of the Delta variant). But there are also other alarm bells that worry the health workers and even make us think of another variant: «It doesn’t look like Omicron anymore». Let’s go into detail.
Omicron, new symptoms alert: “It looks like another variant”
Lack of taste and smell, dizziness, gastrointestinal problems and patients who become infected for the third time. These are the new alarm bells reported by experts relating to the latest Covid-19 infections.
“Unpublished” symptoms that worry doctors. Silvestro Scottinational secretary of the National Federation of family doctors, explained: “In the last few weeks we have been experiencing characteristics that are a bit different from those of previous waves. Fever is always present but in the last cases observed it is higher and lasts at least a couple of days. Some symptoms appear to have gained in intensity, such as gastrointestinal symptoms and headaches».
The new symptoms even suggest a variant that is different from Omicron and Omicron 2 (dominant in Italy). In an interview with Repubblica, Marco Trifoglifamily doctor in Colleferro, explained: “For about ten days we have begun to see patients with symptoms that are absolutely not those typical of Omicron, for example the lack of taste and smell, which make us think of a return of Delta. But also novelties, such as the vertigo associated with positivity. Never seen before. In addition, the first cases of triple infection have arrived, in people who have received all three doses of the vaccine».
According to experts, therefore, in addition to Omicron there are other variants in circulation. On Repubblica, Massimo Ciccozziepidemiologist of the Biomedical Campus, added: «The basic mistake is to think that now only Omicron circulates. If so, it would be impossible to explain why the deaths continue to occur, as Omicron causes mild symptoms. We just published a study on an Alpha patient. Yes, precisely the ‘old’ Alfa, or the English variant, behind the second wave that between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 put a strain on the health system’s resilience».
Alert sequencing of new Covid cases
Second Ciccozzithe real problem remains the sequencing. «If we really want to anticipate the moves of the virus – continues Ciccozzi – we must do like England, we must activate a real machine, which is systematically capable of collecting reports from the territory and analyzing them».
The family doctor concludes Clovers: «Requesting sequencing for a swab is virtually impossible. And so, even the anomalous cases remain in limbo“. And the risk is that it is too late.
