It is the topic of all discussions, the Omicron variant . More contagious, but "less violent", it succeeded the Delta variant, and does not seem to want to leave us. And if it is less dangerous, it still has its share of symptoms. Among the most common are fatigue, cough, and fever. But unlike the Delta variant, only 10% of patients experienced a loss of taste or smell . Added to this, cold sweats, ear pain, intestinal disorders, and sometimes even sleep paralysis. And if with the announcement of the next health measures, we had the vague impression of catching our breath, it would seem that we should prepare for a new epidemic rebound . Because ? The presence of asubvariant of Omicron BA.2.
In India and Denmark, this subvariant has become the majority. Tuesday, January 25, on LCI, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran , did not exclude a possible re-contamination for recently infected patients. "What the Danes are telling us is that it's exactly the same with one difference that we need to explore, I have no conclusions to draw at this stage, which is that we could potentially re-contaminate with BA.2 even when we would have been contaminated with the Omicron variant, which could give a competitive advantage to BA.2 which could suddenly circulate a little more widely. Does this mean that this sub-variant is more transmissible, or that it escapes the vaccine or even the immunity after contamination of the Omicron variant?
As with any emerging variant, one must remain cautious. However, according to the first data, coming from Denmark, no difference in terms of hospitalizations has not yet been reported between BA.1 and BA.2, said the Statens Serum Institut Danish on January 20. For the moment, around fifteen cases have been identified in France. According to the researcher, Étienne Simon-Lorière , there is reason to remain optimistic even if the BA2 imposes itself "in the black scenario of a new increase in contamination, we can expect that the proportion of serious forms will be lower than with the other variants, as for Omicron . Clearly, nothing announces that this sub-variant will earn us yet another confinement.
