HomeLifestyleHealth & FitnessOmicron infection produces stronger immune response against Delta variant, early data suggests

Omicron infection produces stronger immune response against Delta variant, early data suggests

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Omicron-infected people have doubled immunity against Delta variant, according to a new study.

People who are infected with the omicron variant of Covid-19 may have stronger immune systems that can fight off delta, a new study says.

As a result, according to small research released this week by South African experts, omicron may displace delta.

The conclusions may have significant consequences for countries such as the United States, where omicron infections are on the rise but the delta type, which has been associated with an increase in hospitalizations, is still prevalent.

“These results are consistent with Omicron displacing the Delta variant, since it can elicit immunity which neutralizes Delta making re-infection with Delta less likely,” said the authors of the study.

If omicron replaces delta and demonstrates to be more mild than previous mutations such as Alpha, Beta, “the incidence of Covid-19 severe disease would be reduced and the infection may shift to become less disruptive to individuals and society,” the authors added.

Omicron was detected for the first time in November by Botswana and South Africa.

The research has yet to be peer-reviewed. Due to the pandemic’s urgency, researchers have been publicizing their observations before they are vetted by other specialists in the area.

The researchers tracked 13 patients, 11 of whom were infected with the omicron strain. Seven patients were immunized, three of whom received two doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine and four of whom received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Two weeks after the participants enrolled in the trial, the antibody response of people infected with omicron appeared to boost protection against the delta variant by more than fourfold. Antibodies were also found to have a fourteenfold boost in their ability to prevent omicron reinfection in the participants.

The researchers emphasized, however, that it is unclear whether the greater protection is due to omicron-induced antibodies, vaccination, or preexisting infection immunity. Individuals who have been vaccinated had better protection.

According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, omicron accounted 58 percent of sequenced Covid cases in the United States last week, while delta represented 41 percent.

Hospitalizations in the United States increased dramatically in the fall as a result of the delta strain, putting a strain on health-care systems in several states. According to a seven-day average from the Health and Human Services Department as of Dec. 27, more than 70,000 individuals in the United States are currently hospitalized with Covid, an increase of 3% over the previous week.

The extremely contagious omicron strain is causing an increase in Covid infections in the United States. According to statistics from Johns Hopkins University, the country reported an average of more than 237,000 daily new cases for the seven days ending Monday, up 66 percent from the previous week.

People infected with omicron experience milder sickness than those infected with delta, according to real-world studies from South Africa and the United Kingdom.

When compared to delta, patients infected with omicron are 50% to 70% less likely to require hospitalization, according to the UK Health Security Agency. The results are “preliminary and highly uncertain,” according to the FDA, due to the tiny number of omicron hospitalizations now reported, the impossibility to track all previous infections, and the fact that omicron has not spread significantly among older and thus more vulnerable age groups.

They did admit, however, that their study had limitations due to a lack of information on vaccination status and extensive immunity from previous infections.

Even if omicron proves to be less severe than delta, epidemiologists fear that it might still overwhelm hospitals by spreading considerably faster than delta.

A Hong Kong study discovered that omicron replicates 70 times faster in human airways, yet infection in the lungs appeared to be less serious.

Source: Study

Image Credit: Getty

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