As Omicron spreads, research teams try to figure how bad it is; what we know so far
KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)
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Summary
The Omicron mystery — namely the severity of symptoms it causes and the effectiveness of current COVID-19 vaccines against it — will persist for a few more weeks as scientists race against time in their labs. Meanwhile, hospital beds are filling up faster than before.
With more than 20 countries confirming the presence of Omicron, the new variant of COVID-19, researchers and virologists are racing to understand the threat it poses to the world. Even before the World Health Organization (WHO) had named the new lineage, a number of research teams had already duplicated the work of the laboratories in South Africa, where it was first identified, and mapped the genetic changes that made Omicron a bad actor.
Though other variants have mutations too, it will take scientists weeks to ascertain if Omicron is different from the previous strains and if it has added powers in terms of transmissibility, severity, or the potential to evade vaccines.
“There is so little understanding of what’s going on, and that’s true, even for scientists,” Senjuti Saha, molecular microbiologist and Director of the Child Health Research Foundation in Bangladesh, told Nature.
Also read: FAQs: What is Omicron, precautions to be taken, how is India responding and other questions answered
What are researchers doing?
Researchers are sequencing the genomes by testing samples from patients. The sequencing will reveal if Omicron is causing the infections. Also, they will see if the infections are severe in nature and whether fully vaccinated people are also contracting the infection. Omicron has more than 30 mutations, of which some have been seen in other variants.
However, researchers have very little idea about the other unknown mutations. They fear that the pack may have nasty adaptations. This in-real-life testing by researchers can take months.
“AstraZeneca is also already conducting research in locations where the variant has been identified, namely in Botswana and Eswatini, that will enable us to collect real-world data of Vaxzevria against this new virus variant,” CNN quoted a spokesperson for the vaccine maker as saying.
Also read: Omicron likely beginning of end of pandemic; prefer India over China: Jefferies
How fast is Omicron spreading?
Omicron is spreading rapidly since the time it was first reported in South Africa. South Africa had itself reported 8,561 cases by December 1 against 3,402 reported on November 26. Researchers are watching how the Omicron spreads to other places.
Vaccination and prior infection rate will determine how fast the variant spreads elsewhere, expert in viral evolution Aris Katzourakis from the University of Oxford, UK, told Nature. “If you throw it into the mix in a highly vaccinated population that has given up on other control measures, it might have the edge there,” Katzourakis said.
Does it cause more severe disease?
Although South African doctors initially thought the symptoms of the Omicron variant were milder, hospital beds started filling up faster. Till now, scientist cannot confirm if Omicron causes worse symptoms than the previous variants.
“It’s too early to say something about disease severity. So far, we can’t really say anything,” Christian Althaus, an epidemiologist at the University of Bern, told MIT Technology Review.
Also read: Omicron patients in South Africa haven’t needed oxygen support, says doctor who detected new COVID variant
Will the vaccines still work?
The swift rise in the number of infections hints at Omicron’s power to overcome immunity. On December 2, researchers at the South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Disease (NICD) in Johannesburg said reinfections in the country have increased with the spread of Omicron.
To find out if the current vaccines work against the new variant, researchers are trying to isolate Omicron from the bodies of infected people and grow it in the laboratory cells to later expose them into the blood plasma of those vaccinated.
This will help them determine if the person’s antibodies block the virus. Meanwhile, other labs are using Omicron’s genetic information to create ‘pseudoviruses’ with the new variant’s spike gene, which will be introduced into vaccinated people.
A University of Texas team is collaborating with Pfizer–BioNtech to determine if their vaccine holds up against Omicron.
“Depending on the degree of blocking, you can say this is still working, or not as well,” Volker Thiel, a virologist from the University of Bern, told MIT Technology Review.
Also read: Explained: How genome sequencing confirms the presence of COVID’s Omicron variant
Even if Omicron bypasses the neutralising antibodies, it does not indicate that the vaccination will not offer any protection against the variant. It will protect people against severe form of COVID-19, Miles Davenport, immunologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, told Nature.
Meanwhile, even as rich countries like the United Kingdom accelerate the roll-out of vaccine booster doses, it is unclear if they are effective against the new variant.
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