Doctors are picking up a new symptom of the Omicron variant in young children – but it may not be as scary as it seems.
Doctors are noticing a new symptom of the Omicron variant emerging in young children: a scary sounding, barking cough known as croup.
Paediatric doctors in the US told NBC they have they noted the harsh cough – which sounds similar to a seal barking – in babies and children aged under five who test positive for Covid-19.
Doctors say it is likely due to the Omicron variant of the virus appearing to settle higher in the respiratory tract.
“Little kids’ airways are so narrow that it takes far less inflammation to clog them,” paediatric infectious disease expert Dr Buddy Creech, from the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee, told NBC.
He said as the upper part of young children’s respiratory tract becomes swollen, it leads to a “characteristic barking cough”.
Other doctors have reported similar symptoms in Covid-positive children aged under two.
“Toddlers have this raspy and barky cough that we’re not seeing with the other variants,” Dr Peily Soong from Children’s Hospital of Alabama told CBS.
“We’re also seeing something called bronchiolitis; it is a respiratory illness that causes some kids to have wheezy symptoms and raspy cough.”
While the sound of the cough may be distressing to parents, croup is generally not considered harmful.
Doctors said croup was among the “bread and butter” respiratory illnesses that were easily identified and treated by doctors, especially those who specialise in paediatrics.
“As paediatricians, seeing more kids with croup and bronchiolitis is oddly reassuring, because we’ve been dealing with those conditions for our entire careers,” Cleveland-based paediatric infectious disease expert Dr Amy Edwards said.
She said croup was “scary to hear, but it doesn’t mean there is any problem with the lungs”.
“The main treatment is to keep the upper airways open and clear until the inflammation subsides.”
A few days of steroids is sometimes required, but the condition generally goes away on its own.
Australian children aged five to 11 are eligible for their first Covid-19 vaccine dose from today.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said there would be plenty of vaccines available for the age group despite concerns about shortages.
“So we want to encourage all parents to bring their children forward over the period between now and the end of January to protect them and to help protect the community with the vaccinations,” he said.
Covid-19 symptoms to look out for
It’s been reported symptoms of the Omicron variant are generally milder in many people than previous strains, and present as more cold-like or flu-like.
Omicron infection also appears to sit higher in the respiratory tract, rather than deeper in the lungs like previous variants, which has slightly shifted the most common symptoms people may experience.
Experts across the globe have highlighted at least eight symptoms of Omicron which are believed to come on quite early in the illness, from about two days after exposure. They seem to last for around five days, but of course can go quicker, and some can linger.
These are:
• scratchy throat
• lower back pain
• runny nose/congestion
• headache
• fatigue
• sneezing
• night sweats
• body aches
It was doctors in South Africa who first said a scratchy throat, congestion, a dry cough and lower back pain were being picked up among Omicron patients.
Ryan Noach – chief executive of Discovery Health, the country’s largest private health insurer – made the comments after analysing some 78,000 Omicron cases.
Unben Pillay, a family doctor practising on the outskirts of Johannesburg, said that while it was still early days, health professionals were “seeing patients present with dry cough, fever, night sweats and a lot of body pain”.
The ZOE Covid Study, which tracks the outbreak with the help of millions of app users, conducted an initial analysis of symptom data from positive cases in London.
London was selected due to the higher prevalence of Omicron compared to other regions.
The analysis found no clear differences in the early symptoms (three days after a test) between Delta and Omicron.
It said the top five symptoms reported were runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and sore throat.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also found the same symptoms in a group of Omicron patients.
In a new report, it said the most commonly reported symptoms of Omicron appeared to be a cough, fatigue and congestion.
Some of the older more well-known symptoms do not appear to be featuring as much in reports.
For example, a loss of smell and taste has rarely been reported by medics in relation to Omicron, with some saying they don’t think it is a typical symptom. Fever is also less common.
Professor Tim Spector, who leads the ZOE study, said: “Hopefully people now recognise the cold-like symptoms which appear to be the predominant feature of Omicron.”
– with The Sun
Originally published as Covid-19 symptoms: Distressing cough among young children with Omicron variant, doctors say
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