Despite the rather mild course of the disease in those infected with the “omicron” strain of coronavirus, its consequences can be very serious, experts warn. Omicron, like its predecessors, can cause severe damage to the nervous systemic inflammation in children. In addition, after discharge, patients may not have a feeling of "fog in the head" for a long time, lose their voice, and also change the composition and consistency of the blood. Andrey Isaev, Director General of the DNCOM Research Center for Molecular Genetic Research, warned that the seemingly relatively harmless and mild “omicron” strain could subsequently lead to neurocovid and longcovid in adults, as well as cause systemic inflammation in children.

“Despite the milder course of the omicron, it is important to understand that if the coronavirus does not lead to pneumonia and mechanical ventilation, it may have other consequences. The transferred COVID-19, regardless of the strain, can lead to severe damage to the nervous system — neurocovid and longcovid can also occur when infected with omicron, Andrey Isaev, founder and general director of the DNCOM Research Center for Molecular Genetic Research, said in an interview with TASS.

The scientist emphasized that the only way to protect yourself from coronavirus is through revaccination, and now is the best time to get vaccinated. “The fifth wave, the omicron wave, is already receding. And now is the time to get revaccinated for those who have not yet done so. Because, as practice has shown, this provides protection against “omicron” and coronavirus in general, at least for the first two to three months, ”he concluded.

Weakness and fog in the head

According to allergist-immunologist Vladimir Bolibok, the priority of complaints after "omicron" is somewhat different than, for example, when infected with a strain from China. “This is fog in the head, weakness, loss of efficiency, dizziness. A person’s weakness rolls in, he gets sick, recovers, but this weakness persists, ”the doctor told Moscow 24.

Some patients complain of loss of smell, but not during the illness, as was the case with previous strains, but after discharge.

In general, it is still difficult to give clear characteristics of the post-COVID syndrome after Omicron, since the strain came to Russia only in early January, Bolibok added. “The post-covid symptom lasts longer than a month. Even the deadlines for the onset of the so-called post-COVID phenomena have not yet passed, ”he said.

Back to news “Regardless of the severity of the course of the disease, the vascular endothelium is damaged, and the blood begins to thicken. That is, a strain at the systemic level can cause generalized vascular inflammation, ”Sergei Tokarev, chief preventive specialist of the Ural Federal District, scientific director of the Society of Preventive Medicine Specialists, told Ura.ru.

Doctors, according to him, are now trying to understand how the risk of blood clotting with "omicron" depends on the gender, age and concomitant diseases of the patient. Similar effects were seen in patients who had the delta strain, Tokarev added.

"Omicron" is also able to cause changes in the composition of the blood, doctors say. “With coronavirus, there may be an increase or decrease in the number of leukocytes, lymphocytosis, monocytosis. There are many changes characteristic of a viral infection. Increased blood clotting as one of the manifestations of the disease. Hypercoagulability comes with thrombus formation,” hematologist Svetlana Bychkova clarified, emphasizing that such changes are not observed in every patient.

Loss of voice

Candidate of Medical Sciences, ENT doctor of the highest category Vladimir Zaitsev warned that people with an innate predisposition to throat problems should beware of "omicron" in the first place. Also at risk are patients who have removed the tonsils, since the protection of the pharynx from infections after this operation is reduced.

Infection with the "omicron" strain, according to Zaitsev, can lead to a complete loss of voice. If the infection reaches the laryngopharynx, the mucous membrane will suffer, and the voice will become hoarse or disappear altogether. “If the voice does not return for a long time or returns with persistent hoarseness, if paresis or paralysis of the vocal folds occurs, things are bad. Irreversible damage to the vocal apparatus and vocal folds can be caused, ”explained Zaitsev.

Accelerated aging

Molecular biologist, leading researcher at Lomonosov Moscow State University Lomonosov Maxim Skulachev said that COVID-19 can change the biological age of a person. Sometimes these effects can be reversible, sometimes not. In the case of a disease, the body is exposed to such a number of negative factors that within 10 days the patient "ages" for 10 years.“If you are not vaccinated and get sick with COVID-19, then in fact you get all the health “adventures” that you should have had in the next ten years, but you feel them in ten days. That is, in some ways it looks like very accelerated aging,” Skulachev emphasized.

It is this feature that the scientist explained the high mortality among the elderly. “The death rate among the elderly with COVID-19 is much higher than among the young, because so many of them are not destined to live the next 10 years,” he believes.

According to Skulachev, the post-COVID syndrome is similar to the sudden onset of old age, but in most cases people can “recover” from it and gradually return to normal biological age.

A group of scientists from Russia, the US and the UK has previously developed a set of parameters for the study of post-COVID syndrome. It has 11 items: survival; fatigue; pain; symptoms after exercise; cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, cognitive, psychological functions and symptoms; general physical condition and changes in work, profession or study.

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