BF.7 is causing a lot of scarce amongst our people these days and hence we need to allay some fears regarding this
BF.7 is a subvariant of Omicron BA.5 variant which has been in circulation for some time with reports of this variant being reported from around 91 nations. So why this scare.
We know from from social media news path lab that the current surge of Covid 19 in China is thought to be driven by BF.7 variant
BF.7 variant is thought to be highly infectious variant where in a person infected with this virus is capable of infecting 15-18 persons further. It is also thought to evade previous immunity caused by vaccines add infections with previous variant which has been unknown phenomenon with Covid virus.
In contest to China we as a nation have seen 3 waves of covid how to F which the delta wave was most dreaded way. As a result as close of 85-90% of our population might already be exposed to the virus. Secondly we have a good vaccine coverage which means more than 90% of population has taken the essential 2 doses regime which reduces the severity of COVID drastically proven in studies and seen by us practically for last 3 waves.
SYMPTOMS
Some common symptoms of this are the omicron variant with fever, cold, blocked nose, running nose very commonly seen right early in the course of disease. The fever starts to abate by say 4 and this leads onto onset of dry cough which in some cases might be longer for about 2-3 weeks especially in peoples with Asthma | COPD. Weakness remains for 10 -14 days which is unlike the wild virus where it may last longer for months together. The alarm symptoms are unilateral limb swelling, one sided weakness of body, persistent headache, chest pain, breathlessness, drowsiness which might be an indication of increased clotting in the body. If prescient immediate help should be sought from doctor or you should report to hospital for check up. People usually get better at home but remember to maintain your hydration
PRECAUTIONS
1. Stay at home if fever, upper respiratory symptoms.
2. Take booster (3rd dose) if not already taken especially if greater than 65 years, you have comorbidities or you have undergone a transplant previously.
3. The best bet still remains masking which does help especially in closed indoor environments. Surgical mask is equally effective as N95 mask.
4. Nosal vaccine as a heterologous booster could prove to be a boom as it has ease of administration, easy storage, local mucosal immunity and potential to use in mass vaccination programmes as added advantage in addition to being a needle-less procedure
