Delta symptoms may be confusingly similar to other coronavirus variants. The Delta Coronavirus variant was first identified in India. Its high infectivity was the main cause of the second COVID-19 wave in the country. There are still many unknowns regarding the Delta variant of the coronavirus, but scientists are sounding the alarm as its appearance could trigger another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. What are the symptoms of the Delta variant?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus appear from time to time, which are a consequence of the high rate of mutating the virus and the appearance of new mutations in its genetic material. One of them is theDeltavariant. According to the World He alth Organization (WHO), the Delta variant has already been detected in 124 countries. It is predicted to become the dominant variant worldwide in the coming months and could be responsible for the next wave of the pandemic.

Coronavirus Delta Variant - What Is It?

The Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is one of the many varieties of the coronavirus that was first identified in India in October 2022. Another name for this variant is B.1.617.2 (formerly Indian variant) and is currently classified as the so-called variant of the VOC (variant of concern), i.e. of concern.

Coronavirus Delta Variant - Why Is It Dangerous?

Mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that occur during the COVID-19 pandemic usually do not affect the clinical properties of the virus. However, some mutations can be dangerous as they can affect the rate at which the coronavirus spreads or make the vaccines used ineffective.

So far, 13 different mutations of the Coronavirus Delta variant have been described, seven of which are related to the spike protein:

  • D614G,
  • P681R,
  • T19R,
  • T478K,
  • L452R,
  • T950N,
  • E156G.

These could potentially affect the clinical properties of the coronavirus.

Research suggests that the Delta variant has approximately 50% increased dispersal capacity (infectivity) than the Alpha variant (formerly the British variant) . In addition, it may potentially be less effectively neutralized by antibodies raised both after vaccination and post-infection in convalescents.

The greatest fear isspread rate of the Coronavirus Delta variant. Research has shown that people infected with the Coronavirus Delta variant have many more coronavirus particles in their body than people infected with the Alpha variant.

It was proven that people infected with the Delta variant had over 1000 times higher viral load in the respiratory tract.It also turns out that the Coronavirus Delta variant can be detected in the body as early as four days after exposure, compared to the Alpha variant, which is detected on average six days after exposure. This suggests that the Delta variant of the coronavirus multiplies more efficiently in the human body and therefore may spread faster.

However, with new variants of the coronavirus, the biggest concern is always that the virus has the potential to cause a more severe course of COVID-19.

While there is currently no strong evidence that the Delta variant of the coronavirus has these properties, several preliminary reports have shown that people infected with the Delta variant may be more likely to:

  • hospitalization, ICU admission and death (Canadian report),
  • oxygen demand, ICU admission, death or development of pneumonia (Singapore report),
  • hospitalization (Scotland report).

Coronavirus Delta Variant - Symptoms

The symptoms of the deltaappear to be the same as for the other variants and they are:

  • cough,
  • fever,
  • headache,
  • loss of taste and smell,
  • stomach ache,
  • nausea,
  • vomiting,
  • joint and muscle pain.

Coronavirus Delta Variant - Vaccine Effectiveness

Current data show that the Coronavirus Delta variant appears to respond to currently available vaccines and can be neutralized by antibodies produced by convalescents.

This was confirmed by studies that were recently published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), which investigated the effectiveness of two COVID-19 vaccines - AstraZeneca (ChAdOx) and Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2).

It has been proven that the effectiveness of one dose of vaccines was lower among people with the Delta variant (30.7%) than among those with the Alpha variant (48.7%) . In the case of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the effectiveness after two doses was 93.7% among people with the Alpha variant and 88% among those with the Delta variant.

For AstraZeneca, efficacy after two doses among people with the Alpha variant was 74.5% and 67% among those with the Delta variant.

This shows that bothvaccines are highly effective with the Delta variant, but as long as two doses are taken.

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