Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Russian Ministry of Defense: 37 Ukrainian drones destroyed in 4 hours over regions of Russia and the Black Sea.
Sheikh Qassem: Our supporters make up more than half of Lebanon's population, and all of these people are united under the banner of protecting Lebanon, its Resistance, its people, and its integrity.
Sheikh Qassem: There will be no phased handing in of our arms. [The Israelis] must first enact the agreement before we start talking about a defensive strategy.
Sheikh Qassem: Be brave in the face of foreign pressures, and we will be by your side in this stance.
Sheikh Qassem: Stripping us of our arms is like stripping us of our very soul, and this will prompt us to show them our might.
Sheikh Qassem: We will not abandon our arms, for they gave us dignity; we will not abandon our arms, for they protect us against our enemy.
Sheikh Qassem: The US efforts we are seeing are aimed at sabotaging Lebanon and constitute a call for sedition.
Sheikh Qassem: If you truly want to establish sovereignty and work for Lebanon’s interests, then stop the aggression.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States, which is meddling in Lebanon, is not trustworthy but rather poses a danger to it.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States is preventing the weapons that protect the homeland.

Unraveling the interplay of Omicron, reinfections, and long Covid

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 26 Aug 2022 15:19
5 Min Read

The omicron form has proven competent at finding hosts, frequently by reinfecting persons who have recovered from COVID.

  • x
  • Rate of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection during an Omicron wave in Iceland. Image Credit: Shutterstock.
    Omicron has been shown to cause long-term symptoms and organ damage.

The most recent covid-19 outbreak, driven by a fluctuating mix of rapidly developing omicron subvariants, looks to be decreasing, with cases and hospitalizations beginning to decline. Long covid, an ill-defined catchall phrase for a combination of symptoms that can include excruciating exhaustion, difficulty breathing, chest discomfort, and cognitive fog, will continue like previous covid waves.

Although omicron infections are generally milder than those produced by last summer's delta variety, omicron has also been shown to cause long-term symptoms and organ damage. However, whether omicron causes long covid symptoms as frequently — and as severely — as prior variations is still being researched.

Read next: New Covid subvariant spreading rapidly in the US

Director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, the considerably increased proportion of omicron infections compared to earlier variations indicates the need to prepare for a significant increase in people with long covid, according to Michael Osterholm.

As omicron has swept the country, the United States has registered nearly 38 million covid infections this year. According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center, this represents almost 40% of all infections reported since the epidemic began.

What is long covid?

Long covid “is a parallel pandemic that most people aren’t even thinking about,” said Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at Yale University. “I suspect there will be millions of people who acquire long covid after omicron infection.”

Scientists have just recently begun to compare variants head to head, with mixed findings. While one recent study in The Lancet indicated that omicron is less likely to develop long covid, another found that both omicron and delta infections resulted in the same rate of neurological disorders.

Based on population disparities, estimates of the number of patients affected by extended covid range from 4% to 5% in triple-vaccinated individuals to up to 50% in the unvaccinated.

Related News

Von der Leyen faces no-confidence motion amid Pfizergate fallout: FT

New White House website claims COVID-19 caused by 'China lab leak'

Read next: Can COVID-19 damage the brain?

One reason for the large range is that extended covid has been defined in widely varying ways in different studies, ranging from self-reported fogginess for a few months after infection to a severely impaired inability to control pulse and blood pressure that can last years.

Even if those forecasts are conservative, the sheer number of omicron infections this year would significantly increase long-covid caseloads. “That’s exactly what we did find in the UK,” said Claire Steves, a professor of aging and health at King’s College in London and author of The Lancet study, which found that patients have been 24% to 50% less likely to develop long covid during the omicron wave than during the delta wave.

“Even though the risk of long covid is lower because so many people have caught omicron, the absolute numbers with long covid went up,” Steves said.

Reinfections

A new study that examined a Veterans Health Administration patient database discovered that reinfections significantly raised the chance of serious health problems, even in persons with mild symptoms.

The research of over 5.4 million VA patients, including over 560,000 women, discovered that persons who were reinfected with covid were twice as likely to die or suffer a heart attack as people who were only infected once. They were also considerably more likely to have health difficulties of any kind six months later, including issues with their lungs, kidneys, and digestive tract.

“We’re not saying a second infection is going to feel worse; we’re saying it adds to your risk,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and education service at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.

Are all studies accurate? 

Researchers revealed that the study, published online, should be interpreted with caution. Some noted that VA patients have unique characteristics and tend to be older men with high rates of chronic conditions that increase the risks of long covid. There were warnings regarding the study's findings that can't be extrapolated to the general population, which is younger and healthier. 

“We need to validate these findings with other studies,” said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, director of the Yale New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation. Still, he added, the VA study has some “disturbing implications".

As fears mounted over the newly identified coronavirus variant #Omicron, here's a list of some of history’s most deadly pandemics 👇.#COVID19 #CovidVariant pic.twitter.com/wn2IqRG4N1

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 29, 2021

With an estimated 82% of Americans infected at least once with the coronavirus as of mid-July, the majority of new cases are now reinfections, according to Justin Lessler, an epidemiology professor at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health.

People's risk of reinfection is, of course, dependent not only on their immune system, but also on the precautions they take, such as masking, getting booster shots, and avoiding crowds.

  • COVID-19
  • Omicron
  • Coronavirus

Most Read

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, executive director of the defense division of the Israeli National Cyber Directorate, undated (Social media)

Israeli-born US prosecutor drops Israeli officer child sex crime

  • Politics
  • 19 Aug 2025
Almost instantly after the Helsinki Accords were signed, organisations sprouted to document purported violations, whose findings were fed to overseas embassies for international amplification. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

How ‘Human Rights’ became a Western weapon

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025
Israeli soldiers stand on the top of armoured vehicles parked on an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 (AP)

Palestinian fighters target Israeli soldiers, vehicles in Gaza

  • Politics
  • 21 Aug 2025
Launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen toward the occupied Palestinian territories. (YAF military media)

Yemeni Forces announce firing hypersonic missile at Al-Lydd Airport

  • Politics
  • 22 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime minister's office in al-Quds, Occupied Palestine, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Netanyahu deliberately derailing truce with Gaza occupation: Hamas

Irish President Michael Higgins arrives to deliver his speech during a 42nd World Food Day celebration at FAO headquarters in Rome, on Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Politics

Irish president renews call for UN military intervention in Gaza

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the US Embassy in Aukar, northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 21, 2025 (AP)
Politics

US envoy, Netanyahu discuss restraining attacks on Lebanon, withdrawal

Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes in multiple areas in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ansar Allah vow sustained Gaza support despite Israeli strikes

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS