Omicron The BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been shown to evade the human immune system better than all their predecessors. But a new study shows that previous Omicron infections in vaccinated people offer up to four times more protection against new variants of SARS-CoV-2.
Research, published inside New England Journal of Medicine The journal showed that vaccinated individuals (so-called hybrid immunity) infected with Omicron sub-variants BA.1 and BA.2 previously continued to immunize the variants. Compared with people vaccinated but not infected with these variants, those infected were four times more likely to protect against new variants such as BA.5, the study found.
Infection in 2020 and 2021 occurring due to infection with earlier variants of SARS-CoV-2 (ancestral lineage, Alpha and Delta variants) also confer protection against infection for the recent Omicron variant than. However, this protection is not as high as those infected with Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2 in early 2022.
Researchersanalysis of a register of Covid-19 cases in Portugal showed that prior infection with SARS-CoV-2 reduced the risk of BA.5 infection.
Protection the efficacy, relative to the uninfected group, for first infection with Wuhan-Hu-1 was 52.9% (95% CI, 51.9 – 53.9%), for Alpha 54.9% (51.2 – 58.3%), for Delta 62.3% (61.4 – 63.3%) and for BA.1 / BA.2 it is 80.0% (79.7 – 80, 2%).
They conclude that BA.1/BA.2 infection reduces the risk of sudden infection with BA.5 in a highly vaccinated population. This finding is important for assessing the current epidemiological situation and for the development of adaptive vaccines.
Worry: The overuse of life-saving steroids during the Covid Delta may have led to another health problem. Over the past year or so, many such patients have developed AVN – avascular necrosis – a disease caused by temporary or permanent blood loss to bones and bone tissues.
“There are three conditions in Covid-19 that can lead to AVN – steroid use, the infection itself as it leads to blood clots, and a combination of the two. The problem is that we don’t have exact data on the numbers. patients are on steroids,” said Dr Rajesh Malhotra, head of the AIIMS Trauma Center and an orthopedic surgeon.
What is AVN? A person is faced with a collapsed bone which leads to joint pain and loss of mobility in the case of hip bones. At AIIMS alone, 150 patients reported AVN, and 15 of them required hip replacement.
An offer: AIIMS Delhi has previously submitted a proposal to the Indian Medical Research Council for a multicenter study to explore AVN cases. However, it is not yet accepted.
Size: Professor CS Yadav, president of the National Knee & Hip Joint Replacement Foundation, said the number of AVN cases has doubled compared to the pre-pandemic period. “If before we were seeing two cases in a week, now it’s four out of five,” he said.
Problems abound: AVN started showing symptoms late, and so more patients are coming in, he noted. However, AVN is not new and is caused by prolonged use of corticosteroids, an anti-inflammatory drug used for asthma and rheumatic diseases. It is also used for COPD-ICU conditions. More details here
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Written by: Rakesh Rai, Sushmita Choudhury, Jayanta Kalita, Prabhash K Dutta Research: Rajesh Sharma
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