Although the active variant of the coronavirus, the so-called FLiRT, gives mostly mild symptoms, we should not forget that covid is still a serious disease.
Prof. said this in an interview for "Vijesti". Ph.D Zoran Radovanović, a retired epidemiologist. He explains that FLiRT, the unofficial name of the dominant strain of the coronavirus inspired by the names of mutations in the genetic code, comes from the omicron variant, which is much milder than the previous ones.
"All the variants come from the predecessor, the dominant JN.1 variant, and now it is all the offspring of an omicron strain whose various mutations have been active for two years. It is milder than the previous variants, that is, it gives a milder clinical picture. Most people have either been hospitalized or vaccinated against covid, so we are no longer an innocent population with no experience with the infection sample," explains Radovanović.
However, he points out that covid is still a serious disease, which even in people with milder symptoms can damage the heart, central nervous system...
"The English already have research that shows that intellectual capacities weaken due to covid. The long covid fools young people who get over this disease, as they say, on their feet. Weakness, exhaustion, bone pain, brain fog appear, and even active, energetic people seem tired and uninterested to the environment," explains Radovanović.
He claims that the symptoms are the same, sore throat, cough, headache, malaise, muscle pain, diarrhea especially in children, and the loss of the sense of smell and taste occurs less often than before. These symptoms, he claims, do not occur equally in all patients, and covid attacks all organs.
Radovanović explains that the body temperature is no longer 38,5, which was previously characteristic of covid, but varies.
"Symptoms last from two to three days, up to ten, and recovery is more difficult in older people. The clinical picture depends on whether the person has associated chronic diseases, obesity, diabetes..." he says.
Radovanović points out that the virus will continue to mutate. He explains that seven coronaviruses have been discovered so far, and that the most common is the common cold, which is the mildest infectious disease.
"In addition to the four previously known coronaviruses, three more were discovered in this century, namely SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS Cov2. The new coronavirus is different from the flu, which has been going to the other hemisphere since spring and occurs seasonally. Today we see that covid has a summer wave as well", explains Radovanović.
He says that the increase in sick people this summer is partly due to the fact that we had a long, warm summer, so more people are staying in air-conditioned rooms.
"The reason for the increase in the number of patients is that more people travel. The virus spreads especially during travels, at airports, especially in buses, while airplanes are safer because we have vertical air flow," explains Radovanović.
He says that in the United States of America (USA) they are already advising that everyone be vaccinated against covid in the fall, but also that protection should be offered even to risk groups that are at risk of developing complications of the disease.
In July, laboratories in Montenegro registered five times more cases of coronavirus compared to June, and epidemiologists attribute the increase in the number of cases in the summer months to more frequent trips and staying in air-conditioned rooms.
Last month, 629 positive cases of coronavirus were recorded, compared to 121 the month before, while only 34 cases were registered in May.
The Institute for Public Health (IJZ) told "Vijesti" that over the past two months, there has been an increase in the number of laboratory-confirmed cases of infection.
They point out that the ability of frequent mutations, on the one hand, increases the ability of the virus to be more easily transmitted from person to person, as well as to bypass previously acquired immunity.
"The increase in the number of cases can be linked to certain circumstances, such as vacation time when people often travel and come into contact, as well as due to the fact that due to high air temperatures, they spend most of their time in closed, air-conditioned spaces, which facilitates the transmission of infection," they say. from IJZ.
5.147 people were tested for the coronavirus in July, which means that about 12 percent of the analyzed samples were positive.
When asked which strain of coronavirus is currently active in Montenegro, the IJZ said that the institution currently does not have information on the dominantly circulating strain, due to the fact that the use of PCR diagnostics for infection detection has been significantly reduced.
"For the genetic analysis of the virus, samples are used in which SARS-CoV 2 infection has been confirmed by PCR diagnostics, which are then sent to European reference laboratories for this type of genetic analysis," the IJZ replied.
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