Experts: Symptoms of Omicron infection are generally mild, and the risk of sequelae is greatly reduced

　　Author: Qian Tongxin

　　Three years after the COVID-19 epidemic, international research on the "long crown" is still in progress.

The so-called "long covid" (long covid) is also called "new crown sequelae".

The World Health Organization defines "new crown" as a disease that remains symptomatic more than three months after the initial infection, persists for at least two months, and cannot be explained by any other diagnosis.

　　The data currently published by China on the "long crown" is still relatively limited.

In the first half of this year, the team of Professor Cao Bin of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital published a study on patients infected with the new crown in Wuhan at an early stage in "The Lancet-Respiratory Diseases", saying that more than half of them still had symptoms of infection even two years after the initial infection. Lingering symptoms such as fatigue or muscle weakness and trouble sleeping.

　　Cao Bin told the first financial reporter: "At present, domestic research on the long-term symptoms of Omicron is only small-scale and lacks systematic research."

　　A reporter from China Business News learned that the Chinese research team is conducting research on "long-term new crowns" for patients with new crowns in some areas severely affected by the Omicron epidemic in the first half of this year.

The person in charge of one of the studies involving tens of thousands of people "long new crown" told Yicai Global: "The current sequelae of mild patients are mainly manifested as psychological disorders, such as feeling tired or weak, and some highly educated people have a high proportion of depression; but The recovery of critically ill patients will definitely take some time, which, like all other diseases, is not unique to the new crown."

　　The results of this study have not yet been formally published.

"The clinical characteristics and long-term prognosis of Omicron infection will not be made public until further research is conducted," a relevant person told Yicai Global.

　　An expert in critical care medicine in Wuhan told the first financial reporter: "We have observed that after infection with the Omicron variant, even severe patients, the number of patients with severe lung infections is much less than that of the new crown in the early stage of the Wuhan epidemic. In the case of pneumonia, the severe illness of most patients is caused by underlying diseases, not by new coronary pneumonia."

　　He explained that Omicron resulted in milder symptoms, which also greatly reduced the risk of sequelae.

"On the one hand, the virulence of the virus may indeed have weakened; on the other hand, many people have been vaccinated." The Wuhan expert told Yicai Global.

　　In China, the research on "long crown" is also facing certain challenges.

A clinician told the first financial reporter: "Chinese patients are generally less willing to be followed up when they are well. However, judging from the phenomenon after the epidemic of viral infectious diseases in the past, long-term medical symptoms are basically psychological. Impairment-based, and that's how a concept called a neurosis came about, which is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome."

　　Although the definition of "new crown" symptoms is still unclear, known "long new crown" symptoms include breathing problems, changes in taste and smell, brain fog, anxiety, depression, fatigue and sleep disturbance.

　　In June of this year, the international medical journal "The Lancet" published the results of the first peer-reviewed study on the sequelae of Omicron, showing that compared with previous strains of the new coronavirus, Omicron is more likely to cause "long new crowns" Sex is greatly reduced.

　　The ZOE COVID Symptom study from King's College London, which tracked 56,000 people infected with Omicron in the UK, found that compared with the Delta variant, the chance of developing a "new crown" after infection is 20% to 50% lower .

　　Specifically, 4.5% of the 56,003 people studied during the peak period of Omicron from December 2021 to March 2022 reported symptoms of "new crown"; During the delta infection wave until November, 10.8% of the 41,361 people who participated in the study reported symptoms of "new crown".

　　The authors of the study believe that the low risk of "long new crown" symptoms caused by infection with Omicron may be related to vaccination, and there is no statistical difference in the risk of "long new crown" caused by people who have received two or three doses of the vaccine.

However, there is currently no data to support the "long-term new crown" of unvaccinated people and the long-term impact of Omicron on children.