- Scientists have warned a new wave of infections has begun as two Covid sub-variants have led to a surge in cases.
- More than two years on from the first cases in the UK, millions of Britons have caught the virus and some will have had it on multiple occasions.
- Generally, infections tend to be milder the second or third time around due to residual immunity the body develops.
Two Covid sub-variants have caused a rise in instances, prompting scientists to warn of the start of a new wave of infections as reported by the Independent.
Virus infection
According to the most recent data from the Office of National Statistics, the virus is currently present in more than 1.7 million persons in the UK, a growth of 23% on a weekly basis. The omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 are mostly to blame for that increase, according to the ONS.
Millions of Britons have had the virus for more than two years since the first instances in the UK, and some will have had it more than once.
How much protection can vaccines and booster doses provide, though, and how likely is reinfection?
Here is all the information you require:
How common are Covid reinfections?
When the Omicron variant hit the UK last December, the rate of reinfection increased 15 fold.
Omicron’s extensive mutation allowed the virus to drive past any established immunity, scientists believe.
This is why so many people who had been vaccinated or had the virus caught it again over Christmas time.
Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, told The Guardian Omicron is “poorly immunogenic, which means that catching it offers little extra protection against catching it again”.
However, the professor added that is “rare” to be reinfected with Covid within three months.
What if I have been vaccinated?
The new BA.4 and BA.5 variants contain mutations which are not present in the early strains of Omicron.
So, even if you have been vaccinated and had a booster shot, you are still vulnerable to the new sub-variants.
Researchers from China reported Friday in Nature that the new sub-variants “notably evade the neutralising antibodies elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination”.
“My personal bias is that while there may be some advantage to having an Omicron-specific vaccine, I think it will be of marginal benefit over staying current with the existing vaccines and boosters,” said Dr Onyema Ogbuagu, an infectious diseases researcher at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.
“If you’re due for a booster, get a booster, get a booster.
What we’ve learned clinically is that it’s most important to stay up-to-date with vaccines” to maintain high levels of COVID-19 antibodies circulating in the blood.
How bad will my symptoms be if I get reinfected?
Generally, infections tend to be milder the second or third time around due to residual immunity the body develops.
However, the new sub-variants may have evolved to favour infection of lung cells, rather than upper respiratory tract tissue, according to preliminary data from Kei Sato at the University of Tokyo and colleagues.
This makes them more similar to the earlier and more severe Alpha and Delta variants.
Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, said: “It looks as though these things are switching back to the more dangerous form of infection, so going lower down in the lung.”
Though it is too early to tell if symptoms will more aggressive in reinfection cases, the risk of these new Omicron variants “is potentially greater than that of original BA.2,” Sato said.
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Source: Independent
