Because the Omicron variant and its subvariants proceed to maneuver throughout the world, infecting hundreds of individuals with COVID-19, a latest study has revealed that many individuals do not know they contracted the strain.

The Cedars-Sinai study, which was published in JAMA Network Open, found that the vast majority of individuals who were infected with the Omicron variant didn’t know they’d the virus.

“A couple of in every two individuals who were infected with Omicron didn’t know they’d it,” Susan Cheng, director of the Institute for Research on Healthy Aging within the Department of Cardiology on the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai and corresponding creator of the study, said in an announcement.

Since the Omicron variant has less severe symptoms akin to fatigue, cough, headache, sore throat, or a runny nose, it was easier for people to dismiss their illness, causing the fast-spreading strain of COVID-19 to contaminate others.

“Our study findings add to evidence that undiagnosed infections can increase transmission of the virus,” Sandy Y. Joung, an investigator at Cedars-Sinai and first creator of the study, said. “A low level of infection awareness has likely contributed to the fast spread of Omicron.”

With greater than 7,700 participants within the study, researchers checked out the consequences of COVID-19 and the impact of the vaccines as they collected blood samples from healthcare employees greater than two years ago. In the autumn of 2021, as Omicron began to spike, they began to enroll much more patients.

In the course of the study, researchers identified 210 out of two,479 individuals who had provided blood samples before or after the beginning of the Omicron surge who were infected with the variant. Participants within the study were also asked to supply health updates, with only 44% saying they were aware of being infected with the virus, despite 10% reporting cold or infection symptoms.

Researchers do say that a bigger number of individuals from a more diverse pool of participants are needed to “learn what specific aspects are related to an absence of infection awareness.”

“We hope people will read these findings and think, ‘I used to be just at a gathering where someone tested positive,’ or, ‘I just began to feel a bit of under the weather. Possibly I should get a fast test.’ The higher we understand our own risks, the higher we might be at protecting the health of the general public in addition to ourselves,” Cheng said.