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How scary is omicron? Scientists are racing to find answers.
In a few weeks, researchers expect to understand more about how well vaccines fare when they do battle with the new variant
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Given the speed at which the new variant is spreading, patience is likely to be in short supply. Preprints are already making the news.
Omicron coronavirus variant three times more likely to cause reinfection than delta, S. Africa study says
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Omicron overtook Delta in South Africa last month.
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That’s very fast. Back of the envelope suggests it has twice Delta’s R, which was twice the original strain, putting it in double-digit R territory, pushing herd immunity requirements into the 90s.
How scary is omicron? Scientists are racing to find answers.
In a few weeks, researchers expect to understand more about how well vaccines fare when they do battle with the new variant
.
Microbiologist Pei-Yong Shi has studied all the variants: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, “delta-plus,” lambda and mu. So he was ready for omicron, the variant that incited global anxiety unlike any of the variants that came before.
FAQ: What to know about the omicron variant of the coronavirus
Like most scientists, he was shocked by the sheer number of mutations. He also knew exactly what to do next.
Shi runs a high-containment laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch, in Galveston, and collaborates closely with Pfizer. Over Thanksgiving, his team began engineering a replica of the new variant to test against the antibodies generated by vaccines. But it doesn’t happen overnight: It will take about two weeks to build the omicron replica, another few days to confirm that it’s an accurate facsimile, and one more week to pit the virus against blood samples from vaccinated people.
Shi and colleagues around the world are in an urgent race to gauge the danger posed by omicron, which is rapidly seeding itself everywhere. As the tally of cases mounts, what happens inside labs over the next few weeks will help scientists determine the true potential of the virus, tipping off government officials and pharmaceutical companies about whether they need to revise their global vaccination campaign.
His message: Be patient. Wait for the data.
“I think there is a lot of overreaction, and we just have to sit tight,” Shi said. “There are no results yet, these are just the mutations. What does that mean? We have to see.”
FAQ: What to know about the omicron variant of the coronavirus
Like most scientists, he was shocked by the sheer number of mutations. He also knew exactly what to do next.
Shi runs a high-containment laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch, in Galveston, and collaborates closely with Pfizer. Over Thanksgiving, his team began engineering a replica of the new variant to test against the antibodies generated by vaccines. But it doesn’t happen overnight: It will take about two weeks to build the omicron replica, another few days to confirm that it’s an accurate facsimile, and one more week to pit the virus against blood samples from vaccinated people.
Shi and colleagues around the world are in an urgent race to gauge the danger posed by omicron, which is rapidly seeding itself everywhere. As the tally of cases mounts, what happens inside labs over the next few weeks will help scientists determine the true potential of the virus, tipping off government officials and pharmaceutical companies about whether they need to revise their global vaccination campaign.
His message: Be patient. Wait for the data.
“I think there is a lot of overreaction, and we just have to sit tight,” Shi said. “There are no results yet, these are just the mutations. What does that mean? We have to see.”
Given the speed at which the new variant is spreading, patience is likely to be in short supply. Preprints are already making the news.
Omicron coronavirus variant three times more likely to cause reinfection than delta, S. Africa study says
.
Scientists in South Africa say omicron is at least three times more likely to cause reinfection than previous coronavirus variants such as beta and delta, according to a preliminary study published Thursday.
Statistical analysis of some 2.8 million positive coronavirus samples in South Africa, 35,670 of which were suspected to be reinfections, led researchers to conclude that the omicron mutation has a “substantial ability to evade immunity from prior infection.”
Scientists say reinfection provides a partial explanation for how the new variant has been spreading. The elevated risk of being reinfected is “temporally consistent” with the emergence of the omicron variant in South Africa, the researchers found.
The team’s paper was uploaded to a preprint server and has not been peer-reviewed.
Statistical analysis of some 2.8 million positive coronavirus samples in South Africa, 35,670 of which were suspected to be reinfections, led researchers to conclude that the omicron mutation has a “substantial ability to evade immunity from prior infection.”
Scientists say reinfection provides a partial explanation for how the new variant has been spreading. The elevated risk of being reinfected is “temporally consistent” with the emergence of the omicron variant in South Africa, the researchers found.
The team’s paper was uploaded to a preprint server and has not been peer-reviewed.
Omicron overtook Delta in South Africa last month.
.
South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases said Wednesday that omicron overtook other virus variants in November, accounting for 74 percent of the genomes sequenced last month. Delta had previously been dominant. Overall case numbers have also risen rapidly over the past three days.
“Omicron is probably the fastest-spreading variant that South Africa has ever seen,” said Tulio de Oliveira, a public health professor at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University.
“Omicron is probably the fastest-spreading variant that South Africa has ever seen,” said Tulio de Oliveira, a public health professor at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University.
That’s very fast. Back of the envelope suggests it has twice Delta’s R, which was twice the original strain, putting it in double-digit R territory, pushing herd immunity requirements into the 90s.
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