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Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum explains the impact of the new virus mutation. | File photo


Omicron variant raises additional health issues

By ANNE SAKER
UC Style Magazine

     The vocabulary of the new coronavirus pandemic has grown by a Greek letter. The World Health Organization gave the name omicron to the newest identified version of SARS-CoV-2 and on Friday called it a variant of concern.
     But public health officials said they don’t yet know what kind and how much trouble this latest iteration can cause. Here are four things to know about the omicron variant and what it means for you.
Is the omicron variant in Ohio?
     To be a virus is to mutate, and SARS-CoV-2 has performed as expected. The omicron variant was detected Nov. 9 in South Africa and has spread rapidly enough to prompt new travel bans in an effort to control the contagion. On Friday, the WHO reported omicron is different for a large number of mutations, about 30, to the spikes on the surface of the virus. The spikes open cells for the pathogen to infect the body. On Sunday, the first two cases were found in Canada.
     No sign of the variant has been detected in Ohio as of Monday, said Alicia Shoults, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health, which is “closely monitoring developments regarding this variant.”
     Is the omicron variant worse?
     It’s too early to say. So far, the WHO says the variant appears to increase the risk of getting reinfected. More study is necessary to watch how the omicron variant behaves.
     “We need more data,” Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum, an infectious disease expert at UC Health and the University of Cincinnai College of Medicine, said Monday. “The question that people are asking about reinfection really takes time to answer. You really need three to four weeks to figure out, does this cause more reinfections? Does this cause more hospitalizations? Or is this just more transmissible or cause more than the common cold? We don’t know that yet.”
     What are symptoms of the omicron variant?
     So far, there's no indication omicron results in different symptoms already seen with other iterations of the virus. Coronavirus symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat and nausea.
     Why is it called omicron?
In May, WHO announced it would use a new system for naming variants to avoid confusion and stigmas to countries where the variants are first documented.
     WHO said the goal of using the Greek alphabet is to make it easier and more practical for nonscientific communities to discuss the variants. Calling variants by the names of countries may also create unfair stigmas when the variants may not have originated in those countries and were only first detected there.
     The alpha variant was prevalent in 2020. Variants named beta, gamma, lambda and mu have arisen but did not spread widely, Fichtenbaum said. The delta variant arose in early spring, spread faster than the alpha version and caused more severe illness. That variant remains the dominant strain.
     What's the best defense against omicron?
It’s too soon to know how effective current vaccines will be against the omicron variant. But Fichtenbaum said one factor in the variant’s impact could be the levels of vaccination. More immunizations overall provide a stronger barrier to contagion.
Across Ohio, about 62% of the eligible population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Nationally, the rate is about 74%.
     Fichtenbaum said those numbers need to increase, “otherwise we’re not going to have sufficient immunity to defend ourselves.”
     Plus, the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend all the other usual measures to stop contagion: hand washing, keeping 6 feet from others, staying home when sick.