According to a paper released by South African scientists, infection with the Omicron coronavirus variant may also strengthen immunity against an earlier delta strain, reducing the risk of serious illness.
According to the authors, led by Alex Sigal and Khadija Khan from Durban, South Africa, while omicron has been shown to be highly transmissible and can evade certain antibodies, immunity to subsequent infections from the strain increased 14-fold after two weeks. . based Africa Health Research Institute. A small correction was found against Delta, he said.
“If we’re lucky, Omicron is less pathogenic, and that immunity will help delta out,” said Siegel, who previously treated Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE’s Covid-19 shot as well as a two-dose previous infection. Course found. Can give strong protection against Omicron.
The latest findings suggest that the chances of someone infected with Omicron being reinfected by Delta are limited, reducing the presence of the latter strain. Omicron is the dominant force in the fourth wave of infections in South Africa, providing record case numbers, and is rapidly becoming the dominant strain globally.
Delta erupted across the country in July and August, hitting record hospitalization figures. Omicron hasn’t had that much impact on health services yet.
The study is based on 15 participants, two of whom were excluded because they did not passively neutralize Omicron, and the data are being submitted to MedRxiv, a preprint medical publication. It has not been peer reviewed.
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