A different Omicron story from Kol ICUs
Prithvijit.Mitra@timesgroup.com
30.01.2022
Kolkata: Instances of severe respiratory distress and Covid pneumonia has been rising among ICU patients across private hospitals in Kolkata over last two weeks.
This has prompted doctors to suspect that even Omicron can trigger lower respiratory tract illnesses, especially in the case of patients who are ‘unresponsive’ to vaccines.
A section of elderly patients with comorbidities may not have developed antibodies adequately, exposing them to a more severe disease, they argued. So far, Omicron-induced Covid had largely been restricted to upper respiratory tract and hence been mild.
There could be three reasons behind a spurt in the number of severe cases over the last 10 days, said CMRI Hospital director of pulmonology
Raja Dhar. “First, the residual Delta cases seem to be causing severe Covid more frequently than they did even during the second wave when it was the dominant strain. Secondly, a small percentage of Omicron cases have been as virulent as Delta due to a mutation that hasalmostwipedoutthedifference between the two. Finally, those still unvaccinated or partiallyvaccinated have been getting a more severe disease,” he said.
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