Amid a sudden increase in fresh cases discovered by South African scientists this month, new omicron sublines are potentially capable of evading natural immunity from vaccines and prior infections, said the head of the gene sequencing units that produced a study on the strains. . bloomberg report good.
new omicron sublineage A laboratory study from South Africa found that antibodies from earlier infections and vaccinations show the ability to evade. Findings may indicate a new wave of infections BA.4 and BA.5 A subclass of the Omicron type discovered in South Africa this month.
The study, led by the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa, showed that blood samples from people infected with the original Omicron variant reduced neutralizing antibody production when tested against the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages. showed a decline of about eight times. ,
According to the study, samples of those who had been vaccinated saw a reduction of nearly threefold. “Low absolute neutrality levels for BA.4 and BA.5, particularly in the illiterate group, are not likely to protect well against symptomatic infections,” the researchers said in the study. that, depending on the neutralization escape, BA.4 and BA.5 have the potential to cause a new wave of infections.”
The study results come amid a fresh surge of infections in South Africa, which was the first country to experience a wave of cases caused by Omicron after it was first identified in the country and neighboring Botswana.
The study used samples from 24 people who were infected with the original Omicron variant but had not been vaccinated. It also tested subclones against samples from 15 vaccinated people, eight of whom had shots from Pfizer Inc. and seven who had received Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines.
The Africa Health Research Institute’s laboratory, which is in Durban and led by Alex Siegel, was the first to test the original Omron variant against blood samples, showing that Pfizer’s shot against it compared to earlier variants. was less effective.
(with inputs from agencies)