Researchers believe that the fact that Omicron focuses on the throat, that would explain why this variant is more contagious but less lethal.
“Micron appears to be more capable of infecting the upper respiratory tract and affecting cells in the throat. It is very preliminary, but ongoing studies are pointing in that direction,” said Dinan Pillay, a professor of virology at the University of California. University College de Londres.
The researcher pointed out that the various mutations would have changed the ability of the virus to infect. Therefore, in the event that COVID-19 It enters the human body, and more cells are produced in the throat, which increases its transmissibility.
On the other hand, reports indicate work published in the United Kingdom, the variables most affecting the health It is likely to be more serious, although it is less contagious.
Preliminary reports on Omicron
According to the English newspaper Watchman, one of the published work, carried out by a group of molecular virology researchers from University of Liverpool, notes that Micron causes ‘less serious disease’ In mice, Professor James Stewart explains.
Mice infected with the new variant lost less weight, had lower viral loads and suffered less severe pneumonia. Scientists from the United States came to the same conclusion.
“Tests on animals indicate that Omicron is less dangerous than the original or alternative Wuhan virus. The animals recovered more quickly,” Stewart added.
For its part, team Neyts Lab of the University of Leuven in Belgium, had reached similar conclusions in an experiment with hamsters. These animals that underwent the Omicron variant had a lower viral load in the lungs compared to the other variants.
Meanwhile, in University of Glasgow (Scotland), scientists at the Center for Virus Research We determined that Ómicron has led to a change in the way the coronavirus enters the body. They note that just as the immunity of people who received two doses of the vaccine escapes, the third dose “partially restores that immunity.”
These studies are in line with those published in University of Hong Kong and University of Cambridge, which concluded that micron affects the lungs less. And despite its ability to outperform vaccines, it has more difficulty penetrating lung cells.
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