South African hospital reports hints of mild illness due to Omicron

Reports from a large hospital complex in Tshwane, the epicenter of the outbreak of Omicron in South Africa, suggest that this variant can cause less severe illnesses, but conclude. Warns that it is premature.

Of the 42 patients admitted to the Steve Biko / Tsuwane District Hospital Complex in Pretoria on December 2, 29 (70%) were not oxygen dependent. According to the report Written by Fareed Abdullah, MD, Director of the AIDS and Tuberculosis Laboratory of the South African Medical Research Council, which published the report online.

Of the 38 adults admitted to the COVID ward on December 2, 24 were unvaccinated, 8 had unknown status, and 6 were vaccinated. All nine patients with COVID pneumonia, including one child, were not vaccinated.

The report states that most patients have no respiratory symptoms and most have been hospitalized for other medical reasons, but Abdullah says it is still premature to say that mutations cause mild illness. And the next two weeks he said the big picture would be clearer.

“What’s interesting this time is that we want to be cautious and optimistic about it. Most patients in the hospital call it” accidental COVID. ” ” Abdullah said Newsroom Africa, South African television station.

“Two-thirds of us [COVID] The patient … has been there for another diagnosis over the last two weeks, “Abdullah said.

At the start of all three previous waves, usually “only patients are scattered in the room air of the COVID ward, these patients are usually in the recovery stage, [comorbidity] “Before discharge, the COVID ward was recognized by the majority of patients receiving some form of oxygenation, either by the constant sound of a high-flow nasal oxygen device, or by a ventilator alarm,” the report said. Said.

Other hospitals in Gauteng have similar experiences with “accidental COVID,” the report said. On December 3, 37 patients were in the COVID ward of Helen Joseph Hospital, 83% were infected with indoor air, and Georgem Haria Academic Hospital had 80 COVID patients, 81% in indoor air. I was infected.

Of the 13 patients receiving oxygen therapy at the Tsuwane District Hospital Complex, 9 were diagnosed with COVID pneumonia and the other 4 were receiving oxygen therapy for other medical reasons (2). Previously received home oxygen therapy, one with heart failure and one with heart failure). Diagnosed with Pneumocystis pneumonia).

Abdullah’s report also included an analysis of 166 new admissions at the hospital complex from November 14th to 29th. The hospital did not sequence its own genes, but the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NICD) of South Africa confirmed almost all cases. In the Tshwane region, the report states that the cause is a new subspecies.

One of the most notable discoveries was the shorter stay compared to the previous wave, only 2.8 days in the last two weeks compared to 8.5 days in the last 18 months. That is.

The age profile of inpatients was also different from the last 18 months, with 80% of 166 inpatients under the age of 50.

“I think it’s because more elderly people are vaccinated and fewer are hospitalized,” Abdullah told the television station.

In fact, 57% of people over the age of 50 in the state are vaccinated, while 34% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 are vaccinated, the report said.

Finally, 10 people have died in the last two weeks, accounting for 6.6% of the 166 hospitalizations. This was lower than the 17% mortality rate seen in the last 18 months.

Data from hospitals are consistent with information published by the National Ministry of Public Health During the briefing last Friday, It showed that young people go to the hospital at a higher rate during this wave than the previous delta wave.

The Ministry of Health also had limited data on vaccination status, but of the 1,351 hospitalizations, 23% were unvaccinated and 2% were vaccinated (most unknown).

“We can’t draw any conclusions until we have more complete data,” said Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, and MPH, epidemiologists at the UT Health School of Public Health in Dallas. Written in Substack director Regarding health sector data. “But the welcome news is that vaccinated people aren’t piled up in hospitals.”

Jetelina also drew attention to another piece of data. Published as a preprint of medRxivWith a large collaboration between NICD in South Africa and researchers from several South African universities, she says. Last week, we notified the World Health Organization of comments...

Based on a national dataset of all positive coronavirus tests conducted in South Africa from March 2020 to November 27 this year, Omicron reinfection rates are three times higher than Delta reinfection rates. I did.

“In other words, infectious immunity does not do a great job of stopping Omicron,” Jeterina wrote.

Carlos del Rio, MD, Ph.D., Emory University, Atlanta, CNN Early data on severity were promising Monday afternoon, but “we need to wait for what happens when we take Omicron in the elderly and in groups with many underlying chronic illnesses such as obesity and diabetes.”

“I will continue to warn people, and I say the best you can do is not to infect either Delta or Omicron,” Del Rio said.