Omicron : A variant of concern

 Omicron : A variant of concern

Omicron (The B.1.1.529 variant of SARS-CoV-2) was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on 24th November 2021.

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron cases first appeared among some university students in Pretoria, South Africa.

The disease then spread to other ares of South Africa and mainly affected younger people in 20 - 30 age group and those who were unvaccinated or had received only one dose of vaccine.

The E484A mutation has been identified in the Omicron variant, which is located at the site that class 2 antibodies can recognize, thus causing concern that this variant could evade action by human antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Due to this combination of mutations, researchers have suspected that the Omicron variant may be successful in reducing the neutralization actions elicited by immune responses generated from prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or vaccination.

The Omicron variant has joined several other SARS-CoV-2 variants as a variant of concern (VOC), which indicates that this strain is associated with an increase in transmissibility and virulence, as well as the ability to reduce the effectiveness of public health and social measures, as well as available diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics.

Since its initial identification, researchers have found that the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has a large number of mutations, of which include more than 30 changes to the spike protein. 

Importantly, the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the target of most current COVID-19 vaccines, plays an essential role in how the virus recognizes and enters host cells.

Of the 30 mutations on the spike protein, ten of these mutations have been identified on the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. 

This is comparable to the number of mutations that have been found on this protein in other SARS-CoV-2 variants like the Delta and Beta variants, which have two and three mutations, respectively, on this protein.

Although there is limited information available on the significance of these mutations, it is important to note that all of the mutations that have been identified to affect virus transmissibility have been identified in the Omicron variant’s genome.

Source : https://www.news-medical.net/.../SARS-CoV-2-Omicron...