Jun 23 2022 22:49
A new study warns that the latest sub-mutants of the Omicron strain of the emerging coronavirus have the ability to evade antibodies caused by vaccination and previous infection.
Since the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant last fall, new omicron subvariants have continued to evolve and emerge. For example, the two omicron subvariants are BA.4 and BA.5. 5), they now account for more than 21% of new infections in the United States, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although these two subvariables did not appear in America until late April.
In a letter, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, physicians and scientists at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) report that the three sub-variants of the Omicron strain, officially known as BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5, are capable of To escape from the antibodies produced by vaccination and previous infection.
The research team evaluated antibody responses to several sub-variants of the Omicron strain in 27 people who had received a vaccination and a booster dose and 27 individuals who had previously had COVID-19. Neutralizing antibody responses to the BA.4 and BA.5 strains were approximately 20-fold lower than the original WA1/2020 strain and were 3-fold lower than the BA.1 and BA.2 omicron subvariants.
“Our findings indicate that omicron subvariants have continued to evolve,” said Dr. Dan Baruch, director of vaccines and virus research at BIDMC, senior author of the research.
“This has important public health implications and provides the immune context for the current increases in the population with high rates of vaccination and previous infection,” he added.
Source: Al Ittihad – Abu Dhabi
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