likely, but not certain, that those who test positive for the swab in this period have encountered Omicron but a new infection, according to experts, unlikely
All those who spent the Christmas holidays locked up at home with Covid are wondering: but if i have taken Omicron can i re-infect myself?
Given the heaviness of the cloister, even with a mild illness, which affected millions of Italians, the concern is legitimate.
The first consideration we can make is that none of us have the privilege of knowing if we have been infected with Omicron: even if our positive swab will be subjected to genomic analysis, no one will warn us if we have contracted Omicron, Delta, Beta, Gamma or who knows what else. The information remains with the laboratories that communicate the data to the Istituto Superiore di Sanit to compile the statistics on the prevalence of variants.
Therefore, it is absolutely not said that those who are infected today are infected with Omicron since Delta not yet gone and the so-called revolutionary infections, those that also affect those who have been vaccinated or infected, exist, albeit to a much lesser extent, also with Delta. It should be reiterated that the anti Covid vaccines (created on the Wuhan strain) are not 100% effective neither on contagion nor on serious disease.
However we know come on data coming from the UK (Country that sequences a lot) that those who are vaccinated are more likely to encounter Omicron compared to other variants. In detail Those with three doses are 4.5 times more likely to test positive for Omicron than unvaccinated people and people on double doses are 2.3 times more likely to get infected with Omicron than other variants. The fact remains that unvaccinated people are generally more likely to test positive for Covid, regardless of the variant. The Imperial College London report confirms the trend, estimating that the risk of reinfection with the Omicron variant is 5.4 times greater than that of the Delta variant.
In simple terms probable that those vaccinated (even with a third dose) and infected, probably (but not surely) have met Omicron and thanks to the vaccines and the possible lower pathogenicity of the new variant, he did not develop a serious disease.
The last (and now anachronistic) flash survey of the Istituto Superiore di Sanit dated 23 December said that Omicron cases in Italy were 28% on average with some areas in which 80% had been reached (40% in Lombardy) with a doubling of cases, at the time, every two days. L’wastewater analysis reported that Omicron started circulating in Milan between 9 and 12 December and since the new variant a real tsunami we can assume that it is prevalent today.
So It is very likely that anyone who got sick on vacation or sick now has actually met Omicron, particularly if vaccinated.
then is it possible to get a second infection with Omicron? Mario Clerici, professor of Immunology at the State University of Milan reassures: I would say no because the immune response, with antibodies and T lymphocytes, is powerful and specific for the virus with which it comes into contact, so I think a new Omicron infection is very unlikely, if you have actually been infected with Omicron. Instead, you can get an infection from another variant, perhaps Delta or some new mutated strain that may emerge in the next few months, a rather likely scenario as long as the virus continues to circulate.
In other words: if I get infected with a variant, it is possible that it will infect me with another variant, and highly unlikely that I will recontact me – at least in the short term – with the same variant.
The history of immunology tells us that it is almost impossible to get infected with the same variant, which is why there are no specific studies on the subject, Clerici clarifies. Sars-CoV-2 not like measles that don’t shed. Anyone who gets measles or gets vaccinated will never get the disease again. With Covid, as in general with respiratory viruses, things are different because there is no sterilizing immunity. However, even with the passage of time, even with a drop in specific antibodies on Omicron, the T lymphocytes that will protect us from the disease will remain in circulation: someone could possibly get infected again with Omicron after some time but, thanks to the work of the cells T, without realizing it and without any hint of disease.
The virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco agrees: I believe it is unlikely to get sick of Omicron again, at least in the short term and I would like to reassure those who have just infected that will not get re-infected with the same strain. The coronavirus does not give long-term protection, so even the vaccine, created on the Wuhan strain, limps a bit. As happens with the flu, maybe in one or two years it will be possible to resume Covid, which It will no longer be Omicron because it will have changed in the meantime, since Sars CoV-2 unstable. 3% of the current cases are people who were infected in the first wave: time has passed and most of the first hour infected have also remained protected by Omicron because statistically it remains a good long-term immune response.
January 13, 2022 (change January 13, 2022 | 16:02)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
#recovered #Covid #recontact #variant