COVID-19: Scientists warn of new symptom from Omicron BA.5 strain

The new highly contagious Omicron BA.5 substrain of COVID-19 may be causing a totally different symptom that can trigger during the night, immunologists are warning. “One extra symptom from BA.5 I saw this morning is night sweats,” Professor Luke O’Neill from Trinity College Dublin has said in an interview with Irish radio station Newstalk. There are significant differences in the symptoms seen among the patients infected with the Omicron BA.5 sub-variant that were not previously witnessed in Omicron COVID-19 cases, according to Professor O’Neill. 

The new discovery comes as Europe, for instance, has been witnessing a huge surge in COVID-19 hospitalisations due to the mounting number of cases flared by this Omicron sub-variant. Another peak of the COVID-19 has been feared across many EU countries as the immunity from the previous shots of the COVID-19 vaccinations, including the booster has waned among the population.

The cases are also on the rise in the US, as the Johns Hopkins University data reveals that at least eighteen states registered the bulk of COVID-19 confirmed diagnosis driven mostly by Omicron BA.5 subvariant. "Thirty-eight states had more patients in intensive care beds, and 17 states reported more deaths than a week earlier," as per the USA Today poll. In both Europe as well as Australia, the BA.5 variant of Omicron has now become the dominant strain. 

“The disease is slightly different because the virus has changed,” Prof O’Neill said at the radio talk. 

Element of 'immune escape'

The immunologist explained that there has been "some immunity to the new variant, obviously with the T-cells and so on. And that mix of the immune system and the virus being slightly different might give rise to a slightly different disease, strangely enough, night sweats being a feature." He continued, “But more importantly if you are vaccinated and you’re boosted, it doesn’t progress into the severe disease is the message to keep reminding people.” 

Health experts are warning that the new emerging mutations of the coronavirus and spread of the sub-variants may be hard to detect with countries worldwide scaling back on testing and surveillance. This, experts anticipate, might lead to a massive wave later in the year and will likely burden the health care systems. 

BA.5 subvariant of Omicron was first discovered in Africa and has now spread worldwide impeding the vaccination efforts as it has an element of “immune escape." At least 1 in 25 people in England have now either contracted or have been reinfected with COVID-19 as of the week that concluded on June 29, as per the Office for National Statistics cited by Independent. This implies that in just last week, an estimated 2.7 million people have been infected with COVID-19 as the virus makes a resurgence worldwide.