Omicron has ‘canceled’ the Delta variant, “it is ceasing to vary” and for the symptoms it causes it can be said that “now it is just a viral rhino-pharyngo-tracheitis”. While covid infections in Italy do not stop, this is today the picture outlined by a study by the Altamedica Research Institute on the data relating to the last 68 sequencing of the viral genome with the Ngs method. Of these, 55 (about 80%) have the original form of the variant that has become dominant and 13 (about 20%) show “very limited micro-mutations (called sublineage) that do not modify the substance”.
“We can affirm that Omicron appears stable – says Claudio Giorlandino, scientific director of Altamedica – Our study focused on the important changes of the last 15 days, in which Omicron has grown rapidly up to today reaching 100% of positive cases. We have concentrated our attention above all to the outpatients, that is the thousands or hundreds of thousands of subjects who become infected, but who remain at home without presenting severe pathologies, and who today represent 99.7% of the infected “.
“From the observation of the 3,486 positives out of about 21 thousand examined from December 8 to January 22, it emerged that Omicron actually causes rhino-pharyngo-tracheitis. The few more severe cases (about 2%) are probably attributable to tail of the Delta “, continues the scientific director.
“In fact – underlines Giorlandino – in 45 days, among the 3,486 reports of infected people sent to the ministerial platform, we sampled the genotype, observing a progressive reduction of Delta infections and, particularly in the last few weeks, truly reassuring data emerged”. First of all, “the percentage of positive swabs decreased by 1 percentage point, currently standing at 16.5%, a slight decrease compared to the average of the previous month (December 8-January 7) which was 17.5%”.
For the director of Altamedica “the most important observation lies in having documented that the percentage of the variants examined on a weekly sample has seen a progressive reduction of the more aggressive variant, the Delta, which, however, had not yet disappeared at all for us, standing at around 15% until last week. Currently “however,” in this last week, out of 68 sequences of the dangerous Delta, no trace has been found “.
“Omicron – recalls Giorlandino – is a variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus that is transmitted very easily with the salivary droplets of the Flugge”, the so-called droplets, “being a virus that is mainly localized in the upper airways. This, compared to the Delta variant, does not attach to those cells that have a surface protein called transmembrane serine protease 2 (Tmprss2). This protein, highly expressed by respiratory endothelial cells of the lung, digestive system and prostate, is a co- the virus’s gateway receptor, the Ace2 receptor, and offers an excellent docking plane for Delta’s “protein” Spike (the coronavirus hook that attacks the target cell, ed), but is not bound by that of Omicron . Therefore this last variant, in attacking the cells, does not prefer, like the other 50 known variants, the organs most interested in morbidity, such as the lungs where instead the Tmprss2 is over-expressed. The literature is in fact stressing the concept that the difference in the route of entry between the Omicron and Delta variants may have an implication on the clinical manifestations or on the severity of the disease “.
According to the scientific director of Altamedica, “this explains the fact that many ICUs have recently noticed two things: the first is the reduction in accesses for Covid, despite the Omicron pandemic spreading, and the second, especially where accurate sequences have been performed. of the new variant, is the total absence of the same variant in ‘critical’ patients. The University of Berkeley, analyzing the California healthcare databases – adds Giorlandino – has noted that in recent days, out of 50 thousand individuals affected by the South African “, Omicron, “only 7 ended up in intensive care and only one died of different complications. But even here, in Bergamo, intensive care recently reported the absence of Omicron”.
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