Feeling sweaty at night? You might have Omicron.
New reports say night sweats — which the Mayo Clinic defines as “repeated episodes of extreme perspiration that may soak your nightclothes or bedding” — are a “new strange symptom” of the variant, according to Fortune.
“Commonly associated with other conditions like the flu, anxiety, or even cancer, night sweats were less commonly associated with COVID before the Omicron variant began to rapidly spread worldwide,” the magazine’s website reported on Tuesday.
“Night sweats are one of a few distinct symptoms that appear to separate Omicron from other COVID variants, along with a sore throat. And unlike Delta and the original COVID strain that first hit the U.S., Omicron does not seem to be associated with a loss of smell and taste,” the mag said.
Fortune cited Dr. John Torres, NBC News senior medical correspondent, who said on NBC’s “Today” show that night sweats are a “very strange symptom.” And Dr. Amir Khan of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service also said night sweats may be cause to get a COVID-19 test.
Another recent report said there is a new symptom of Omicron — or more precisely, a lack of one.
“Some symptoms are the same or very similar, such as the dry cough, but people are being instructed to keep an eye out for some effects which may seem unusual,” The Mirror reported last week. “One strange effect seems to be affecting people with the new variant and may help point towards the virus if some individuals are asymptomatic.”
The symptom: Loss of appetite.
“Scientists who are part of the ZOE COVID Symptom Study looked at symptom data from positive cases recorded in the research data and compared it with information from early October when Delta was dominant,” wrote the U.K. paper.
“People who contributed to the study reported a loss of appetite as one symptom they experienced. … Said contributors were either confirmed or likely to have had the Omicron variant, suggesting that the loss of appetite symptom is more likely to occur when people have Omicron, rather than the Delta variant,” the Mirror said.
The ZOE study, which has been tracking symptoms reported by participants using a smartphone app, reported that the top five symptoms for Omicron are runny nose, headache, fatigue (mild or severe), sneezing, and sore throat. The data were collected between December 3 and 10 in London.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which operates much like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found that those who contract Omicron are less likely to become severely ill compared to people who get the Delta variant, according to the data, reports Politico.
“More people are likely to have a mild illness with less serious symptoms — probably in part due to Britain’s large number of vaccinated and previously infected people, and possibly because Omicron may be intrinsically milder,” Politico reported. “Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has previously cautioned against too much optimism based on the initial optimistic signs from South Africa in the past few weeks. However, the UKHSA’s view after studying cases in Britain is that Omicron is indeed usually less severe than Delta.”
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent, and ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2015. Send tips to [email protected].