A new covid-19 stalk, called Stratus (XFG), spreads accelerated globally, arousing concern among the population and specialists. In Romania, doctors point out that the new variant can fatally attack vulnerable population categories and here it refers to children. “In the last week, 8.10.12 cases of Covid in very young children were confirmed each day. At this moment, our very small patients with SARS-COV-2 are in our isolation section and I can say that almost a whole floor is full. The lowest has only 20 and some days”, Draces the doctor Mihai Craiu.
The new Covid-19 “Stratus” stem, dangerous for children’s photo archive
The new Stratus stalk (XFG), derived from the Hamicron, has become dominant in India since spring and is already present in the US, where it represents 14% of infections, but also in several European states.
In Southeast Asia, a concomitant increase in infections and hospitalizations has been noted. WHO classifies it as a “variant under monitoring”, stressing that it does not cause more severe forms of disease, but has an increased transmission capacity and a possible decrease in the efficiency of vaccines. Romanian doctors confirm that the symptomatology is easier.
“It’s even a milder variant of the Hamicronwhich was better tolerated anyway than the Delta stem and what I had before. The virus has undergone changes, circulating in nature. Most likely the vaccination contributed in the first phase to obtaining a partial immunity. It is true that after a while, we become sensitive“explained Tatiana Dejoianu, a specialist epidemiology at the “Dr. Victor Babeș” Diagnosis and Treatment Center in Bucharest, exclusively for Adevărul.
The same opinion is shared by Prof. Univ. Dr. Doina Azoicăi.
“The new stem cannot be a stem that gives manifestations like those of the initial stem ”, Ensures the chairman of the Epidemiology Commission of the Ministry of Health, contacted by Adevărul.
Children, in the foreground of concerns
Although adults go through the disease easier, pediatric doctors sound an alarm for very young children.
“The problem is for those who first make this disease in their lives. Very young children, who have neither antibodies nor pose the problem of vaccination in Romania ”draws the attention of Dr. Mihai Craiu, primary pediatric doctor at Insmc and the founder of the “Virtual Children’s Hospital” platform.
Dr. Tatiana Dejoianu confirms that the manifestations are more frequently visible and suggestive in children.
Symptoms include fever, sore throat, cough, possible digestive disorders: diarrhea, abdominal pain, even vomiting.
That is the moment when the parents are alarmed and reach the doctor. From his daily practice, the pediatrician, Mihai Craiu, says that the situation is already alarming:
Photo archive
“In the last week, 8,10.12 cases of Covid were confirmed every day in very young children. At this moment, our very small patients with SARS-COV-2 are in our isolation section and I can say that almost a whole floor is full. The smallest has only 20 and some days,” the specialist detailed.
He describes the clinical picture of these patients as the following: “I am referring to sUgari and in children of one year, a year and a half, who did not get to do in the previous waves. Most do high fever, belly pain and diarrhea ”.
Cough and hoarseness, the most common symptoms of adults
Comparatively, adults have lighter symptoms, such as neck pain, hoarse, mild cough or fatigue, and fever is rarely encountered.
Often, the symptoms are ignored and confused with those of a regular cold.
“In adults, the most common were lighter phenomena: something cough, laryngitis, hoarse, voice change. The sore throat is quite obvious. Eventually, this brought it to the doctor, less fever. Symptoms can be confused with those of a regular cold. Rarely do adults also happen to do fever, some of them persist that state of fatigue, muscle pain, joints, headache, present in more severe forms of Covid“adds Tatiana Dejoianu.
The vulnerability of the elderly and the chronic patients
Although for a healthy adult, the new form of SARS-COV-2 should not raise special problems, things can be complicated, worryingly, for people in vulnerable categories.
If in the case of children the problem is the lack of acquired immunity, for the elderly the risk derives from the pre -existing diseases.
“In the elderly and with chronic diseases, a sudden aggravation of the general condition or pre -existing diseases can be observed ”,
warns the epidemiologist, Tatiana Dejoianu.
Thus, the epidemiological picture is divided between mild forms in the general population and increased risks at age or in people with low immunity.
Treatment methods and most frequent mistake
Doctors point out that treatment does not differ significantly from the one applied in the case of other respiratory viruses.
“Antivirals used for the treatment of Covid and viruses: paracetamol/ anti -inflammatory, hydration”Says Tatiana Dejoianu.
Mihai Craiu draws attention to a frequent mistake: “The strongest message is that the disease cannot be treated with antibiotics. Many parents came to the hospital to receive antibiotics, because from the pharmacy they could only take a prescription.”
This problem often arises from a confusion between viruses and bacterial infections. Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, not viruses such as SARS-COV-2.
Unjustified use of antibiotics not only is useless in Covid-19 treatment, but increases the risk of bacterial resistance, which makes future bacterial infections harder to treat.
How effective is the vaccination
A sensitive point remains that of vaccination. If the vaccines developed in the pandemic aimed at the more aggressive stems, from the initial, to the Delta version, the efficiency is much smaller, at present, in front of the Stratus variant.
“However, there are a few years. In fact, they were effective for those severe stems, except that they are traveling now. All the time it is trying to produce vaccines that cover the newly-broken stems. Sometimes, the virus changes faster than the production of vaccines. What we have at this moment does not necessarily protect for the circulating stem“explains Dr. Dejoianu.
About how the virus has changed and developed new stems over the years, the pediatrician, Mihai Craiu also spoke:
“The surface antigens, which work exactly like clothing ornaments in a person or hairstyle, is changing periodically, so that it is not recognized, easily, by the immune system. The phenomenon, within itself, is called a drift (drift) and shift (change) antigenic. With smaller, very frequent changes.”
Laboratory tests confirm that vaccines continue to provide protection against severe forms and hospitalization, even if they do not completely prevent the infection.
More cases than the statistical data shows
Officially, in Romania does not exit, for the moment, an alarming report of the number of cases, but doctors warn that current data may not reflect reality.
“I think the virus is traveling to us in the country even more than we imagine, except that not everyone gets to the hospital. There are many who are self -tied, at home. Tests do not always come out positive from the first signs. Often, about the second, the third day of evolution is positive“points out Tatiana Dejoianu.
If we refer to the Clinical Hospital of Infectious and Tropical Diseases “Dr. Victor Babes” in Bucharest, an estimate of confirmed cases would be one of 5.
The epidemiologist claims that “From 10-15 people who showed up were 3 positive cases“.
At the same time, she recommends immediate testing, in the case of people who know they have older people, people with chronic diseases, heart disease, diabetes, neoplasms, or undergo treatments that decrease immunity.
Prevention and lessons forgotten from pandemic
Although the new stem does not have the severity of the previous forms, the specialists remind the importance of prevention measures.
“Let’s avoid crowded and closed spaces, as much as we can stay out, in the open air. Let’s wear the mask if we visit the vulnerable ones and to isolate ourselves as much as possible if we have signs of cold. If we can work from home it is better for us and for those around us,” recommends Tatiana Dejoianu.
The pediatrician, Mihai Craiu, completes the list of recommendations, in the case of children:
“You have to take care of the hands and the surfaces with which the children come into contact. There are all kinds of small things that we have forgotten about the pandemic: we do not wash our hands, we do not stay at some distance from someone who sneaks or cough and turn the viruses.”
Prediction: When a manifestation tip might appear
Epidemiologists estimate that the number of cases will increase with the end of the holidays and the beginning of the schools. Currently, crowded places, favor the spread of infection.
“Probably it will be a form of form at the end of the holidays, at the beginning of the schools. We may have more cases, to be more required,” Tatiana Dejoianu believes.
For the time being, the observation of the specialists is that neither in Romania nor worldwide has not been reported a great virulence or a high aggression of the virus.
