Long Covid-19 symptoms that no one is talking about; signs to watch out for. Read here
Premium- We have no data yet on what proportion of infections with Omicron... end up with Long COVID, an expert said
Complications related to COVID-19 infections can continue for months after you have recovered from the disease. Lingering symptoms or long-term syndromes can be seen even in patients who have suffered mild to moderate infections. Even with Omicron variant, which is supposedly milder than its predecessors, doctors have warned against taking it lightly as it could lead to long COVID.
What is long COVID?
Even after the initial recovery, some COVID patients may develop some complications that might torment them for months. Doctors term these symptoms as long COVID.
Most elderly individuals, who have recovered from COVID, have these symptoms for months. At times, however, even younger individuals suffer from long COVID symptoms.
What are the symptoms of long COVID?
One of the most common symptoms of COVID-19 is loss of sense of smell and taste. Those who contract COVID usually have an upper respiratory tract infection, which leads to loss of smell and taste. While most patients recover from it, some continue to have a long-term effect - parosmia.
Parosmia is a type of smell disorder, where odors become distorted. That is, even a pleasant smell can now smell bad to such patients.
Apart from that, other symptoms of long COVD include fatigue, persistent cough, breathlessness, brain fog and anxiety.
Why it can affect one's quality of life?
Parosmia can affect one's life in a severe way in the long term. Imagine living with a condition where you are eating food but unable to enjoy it because it no longer smells the same. Or the smell of coffee or tea that seemed refreshing at one point now smells rotten.
What are the long-term effects of Omicron?
Infections with earlier variants of the coronavirus, including mild infections and "breakthrough" cases after vaccination, sometimes caused the lingering, debilitating long-haul COVID syndrome.
"We have no data yet on what proportion of infections with Omicron... end up with Long COVID," explained Akiko Iwasaki, who studies viral immunology at Yale University, as quoted by Reuters.
"People who underestimate Omicron as 'mild' are putting themselves at risk of debilitating disease that can linger for months or years."
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