More and more countries in the world, including Greece, are certifying new cases of COVID-19 due to the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2. The Doctors of the Therapeutic Clinic of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Theodora Psaltopoulou, Giannis Danasis, Panos Malandrakis and Thanos Dimopoulos (Rector of EKPA) summarize the latest data according to the prestigious scientific journal Nature (How bad is know far (nature.com)). To date, the Omicron strain has been identified in more than 20 countries on all continents and this number is expected to increase further.
It is worth noting that accurate strain identification requires a sequence of the virus genome, which is not widely available in developing countries. In South Africa, following the advent of Omicron, there has been a 400% increase in diagnoses, an increase in the number of hospitalizations and a 50% increase in the number of deaths in the last week. Evolutionary biologist Tom Wenseleers at the University of Leuven in Belgium estimates that the Omicron strain is 3 to 6 times more contagious than the Delta strain. In South Africa, the Omicron strain shows a clear advantage over Delta, but we will have to wait to see if the same applies to Europe and America and the role that vaccination coverage may play.
Another interesting observation from the cases due to the Omicron strain in South Africa is the possibility of both re-infection in people who have previously been infected with COVID-19 and infection in vaccinated individuals. The severity of the infection is another factor that is currently difficult to determine, as other factors that may affect the severity of the disease should also be considered. For example, the reported mild illness cases in South Africa may also be due to the young age of the patients, many of whom may have already been previously exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
In addition, administration of a third booster dose may maintain very high levels of neutralizing antibodies, which is associated with protection against COVID-19. International research teams are investigating the possibility of neutralizing antibodies resulting from both natural infection and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination to neutralize the new SARS-CoV-2 Omicron strain using the “pseudo-virus” technique. .
Experts argue that, compared to older “strain of anxiety”, vaccines may continue to protect against serious illness and the need for hospitalization, but not have a strong protective effect against mild to moderate infection. Although this means an increase in cases, we can hope that there will not be an excessive increase in hospitalizations and deaths.
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