Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Nov 16, 2022; 10(32): 12062-12065
Published online Nov 16, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i32.12062
Omicron targets upper airways in pediatrics, elderly and unvaccinated population
Wassan Nori, Muna Abdul Ghani Zghair
Wassan Nori, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad 10052, Al Saydyia, Iraq
Muna Abdul Ghani Zghair, Department of Radiology, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad 10052, Hay Al jammea, Iraq
Author contributions: Nori W designed the research, Ghani Zghair MA reviewed data; Nori W wrote and revised the letter; the authors read and agreed on the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that we have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wassan Nori, PhD, Academic Editor, Academic Research, Senior Researcher, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mustansiriyah University, Al Amin, Baghdad 10052, Al Saydyia, Iraq. dr.wassan76@uomustansiriyah.edu.iq
Received: September 19, 2022
Peer-review started: September 19, 2022
First decision: October 12, 2022
Revised: October 12, 2022
Accepted: October 19, 2022
Article in press: October 19, 2022
Published online: November 16, 2022
Processing time: 49 Days and 22.7 Hours
Abstract

Omicron, a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 variant, has spread around the globe, causing dramatic increases in infection rates. Viral mutant antigens were responsible for the strong infectivity, fast replication, and high reinfection rates reported from all ages. Omicron causes clinical symptoms mostly related to the upper respiratory tract with minimal symptoms from the lower respiratory tract besides an urgent presentation of cases that resembled a fatal illness, epiglottitis. Not to mention the long coronavirus disease 2019, which rises exponentially in the Omicrons era. Apparently, the disease has a less aggressive course than earlier variants with lower death rates; however, the infection is not trivial. Severe infection was raised among pediatrics, unvaccinated, and the elderly. Complete vaccine protection is urgently needed to protect the most vulnerable community members. Additionally, self-protective strategies such as wearing a mask and safe social distancing cannot be omitted.

Keywords: Omicron; SARS-CoV-2; Upper respiratory tract; Epiglottitis; Pediatrics; Unvaccinated

Core Tip: Omicron, a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 variant, showed a special predilection for the upper airways. It caused a clinically different scenario, affecting pediatrics as a croup-like syndrome and urgent presentation in adults by causing alarming symptoms that resemble epiglottitis. Exponential Omicron infectivity and spread are higher than an earlier variant, yet it has lower death rates. High-risk groups for having severe forms of infection were the elderly and the unvaccinated population, which reinforces the importance of the vaccine in breaking the disease chain together with self-protective techniques such as masking and safe social separation that cannot be overlooked.