Bad Night Sweats: Omicron Main Symptoms

Omicron is the latest Covid 19 variant that’s sent the world into a panic. Some of the highlights of the new strain are the new symptoms. According to Dr. Amir Khan, a UK doctor, night sweats are at the top of this list.

This revelation by the doctor alerts people to watch out for bad night sweats. Dr. Khan, a physician with the UK NHS^[1] (United Kingdom National Health Service), detailed that “those kinds of drenching night sweats where you might have to get up and change your clothes.” are part of the symptoms.

Understanding the symptom is crucial, and health workers need to explain this to people. That way, if a patient experienced the drenching night sweats, they can get tested for the Omicron variant.

Dr. Khan emphasized that “This is important, and it’s important that we keep on top of these symptoms. If we’re going to track Omicron and track it worldwide, we need to be able to test people with these symptoms.” Dr. Khan^[2] was speaking with The Sun, a UK newspaper.

Night sweats aren’t new when it comes to mentions about Covid 19 and its variants. While sounding the alarm about the new variant, Dr. Angelique Coetzee from South Africa ranked them as a key symptom. She is the first person to have spoken out about the new variant.

But she expressed that it had milder effects than the deadly Delta variant. She details other symptoms of the variant, such as muscle aches, scratchy throat, and fatigue. But, patients who’ve received the vaccine seem to have milder symptoms when they get Omicron.

The Spread of Omicron in the UK

The Omicron variant was first detected in South Africa. This variant of Covid 19 has replaced Delta as the dominant one in the UK.

Early this week, data from the UKHSA (UK Health and Security Agency) revealed that 54% of all the new cases have the S-gene dropout. The S-gene dropout is the indicator health experts are seeking to detect Omicron.

There’s still a need for more information that scientists from across the world strive to provide. Many want to know how transmissible the variant is and whether the current vaccines stand a chance against this new variant.

But, even with the trickling of information, there’s emphasis from health experts not to take the variant lightly. A medical officer in the UK, Professor Chris Whitty, expressed concern about how people view the variant.

“We are concerned that people are dismissing Omicron as mild. Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases will once more overwhelm the health systems.”

“We have enough information from the World Health Organization to indicate very clearly that this spreads super-fast with a doubling time of several cases every two to three days.”

What Symptoms Should People Watch Out For?

When the Omicron variant was reported in South Africa in November, the details were in the symptoms. Fatigue led the way as she treated her patients. More symptoms of the Omicron variant included a scratchy throat, mild headache, and body aches.

These are the symptoms many positive cases continue to exude to date. Unlike the Delta variant, Omicron hasn’t caused patients to lose their sense of taste and smell. Plus, those who test positive don’t experience a drop in their oxygen levels.

Tim Spector, an epidemiologist, confirms these observations in people who test positive for Omicron in the UK.

” The majority of people testing PCR (polymerase chain reaction) positive have cold-like symptoms, and they don’t have the classical triad of the old COVID symptoms of fever, loss of smell and taste, and persistent cough. These symptoms look more like a severe cold.”

“Don’t wait for temperature, loss of smell, cough- more than 50% of people in London never get these symptoms, and yet they’re testing positive.”

Still, even with flu-like symptoms that now include night sweats, there are calls for people to be cautious. These flu-like symptoms aren’t to be taken too lightly.

Many scientists don’t believe that Omicron has fewer adverse effects. Those vaccinated may experience less severe outcomes, but there’s a need for more research.

Why People Need to Be Cautious

According to Dr. Rhagib Ali^[3] a senior clinical research associate at the University of Cambridge MRC Epidemiology Unit, modeling studies is good. Still, the results give way to a range of scenarios.

“You go from something that’s not as bad as last winter to much worse. From a policymaking point of view, that’s not very helpful because they don’t assign any probability to any of those scenarios.”

Professor Sheila Bird, formerly of the Medical Research Council’s Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge, concurs. “I think incontrovertible evidence is a tall ask. What I imagine (Ministers) are trying to do is to work out (what) is the effect of booster immunizations on hospitalization rates for Omicron vs. Delta.”

“But that depends upon how many people were boosted about four weeks ago, then had two weeks to develop full protection from that booster, in that time got Omicron versus got Delta, and then were hospitalized.”

Things are changing rapidly in the UK, which is part of the problem of understanding Omicron. As the holidays approach, UK Prime Minister^[4] Boris Johnson announced there wouldn’t be any COVID-19 restrictions in the country over Christmas.

“We don’t think today there is enough evidence of any tougher measures before Christmas.

Summing Up

Like many other countries, the UK is facing the latest COVID-19 variant, Omicron. As per the latest data, an additional symptom people must watch out for is night sweats. This key symptom adds to others: scratchy throat, mild headaches, and body aches.

There’s still debate around Omicron and whether it’s as severe as Delta. So far, scientists continue to strive to provide more information about the variant. But, there are calls not to take the variant lightly because it has cold-like symptoms.

More people continue to test positive in the UK, and worries are rife they might overwhelm the health systems. Still, even with such concerns, there won’t be any COVID-19 restrictions placed on the UK over the holidays, according to the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.