Study says After Omicron Infection, BA.2 Risk is Rare

Individuals infected with the highly contagious Omicron COVID variant are less likely to contract BA.2 subvariant, revealed a new study.

Omicron, which has rapidly spread worldwide, carries numerous mutations in key regions and is associated with increased transmissibility and immune escape.

New Omicron Sub-Variant Spreading Faster in the U.S
Omicron subvariant, known as BA.2, is spreading 30 percent more easily than BA.1, say experts.

‘The variant has recently been divided into three subvariants with substantial genomic differences, in particular between Omicron BA.1 and BA.2. ’

While Omicron is on the decline, many countries in Europe and Asia have seen an increase in BA.2 cases.

With the surge in BA.2, a large number of reinfections from earlier cases has been observed, raising the question of whether the subvariant specifically can escape the natural immunity acquired shortly after a BA.1 infection.

"We provide evidence that Omicron BA.2 reinfections do occur shortly after BA.1 infections but are rare," said corresponding author Morten Rasmussen, from the Department of Virus and Microbiological Special Diagnostics, at Statens Serum Institut, Denmark.

WHO Says Omicron Sibling BA.2 Remains Variant of Concern
In European and Asian countries existence of the BA.2 subtype of the Omicron variant should continue to be considered a variant of concern.

While the reinfection rate appears to be low given the high number of positive SARS-CoV-2 tests during the study period, it "still highlights the need for continuous assessment of length of vaccine-induced and/or natural immunity", Rasmussen said.

Artificial Intelligence To Study The New Omicron Variant
New vaccines and antibody therapies might be needed as scientists find the aid of artificial intelligence for the new omicron variant.

To explore, a team of several Danish and Australian researchers selected a subset of samples from more than 1,8 million cases of infections in the period from November 22, 2021, until February 11, 2022.

They selected individuals with two positive samples, more than 20 and less than 60 days apart.

For Kids Affected by the Omicron Variant of COVID-19
While the Omicron variant has been touted as mild, it has led to a significant rise in infection among kids unlike the Delta variant for post-COVID-19 disease.

From a total of 187 reinfection cases, they identified 47 instances of BA.2 reinfections shortly after a BA.1 infection, mostly in young unvaccinated individuals with mild disease not resulting in hospitalization or death.

Further, the study showed that Omicron BA.2 reinfections after either Delta or BA.1 initial infections, were mainly observed among young individuals below the age of 30 and the majority of these cases were not vaccinated.

This emphasizes the enhanced immunity obtained by the combination of vaccination and infection compared to infection induced immunity only, Rasmussen said.

Source-IANS