Spokane Regional Health District Health Officer Francisco Velazquez conducted a recent study of the subvariant. He did support the finding that it is more contagious and he also found two additional symptoms. The study shows that dizziness and fatigue are two new symptoms developed from the BA.2 strain.

Despite the fact that COVID-19 occurrences are decreasing, research shows that the omicron variant can re-infect patients. It can put them at risk of further infection and additional COVID-19 symptoms. People should continue to get vaccinated and booster to reduce their chance of infection, according to Velazquez. Especially since those two symptoms can be caused by other strains of the virus.

According to scientists, the BA.2 subvariant of the omicron coronavirus variant can induce more severe COVID-19 symptoms than the original omicron variation strain.

BA.2 has several characteristics that might make it capable of generating severe COVID-19 symptoms, according to recent lab trials in Japan.

“From a human standpoint, it might be a worse virus than BA.1 in terms of transmission and sickness,” said Dr. Daniel Rhoads, department director of microbiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Given the new studies conducted, most of the results would still recommend completing vaccinations. Universal COVID-19 prevention measures are still recommended. This includes frequent washing of hands, wearing of masks, and social distancing.

Though the new variant of COVID appears to be milder the WHO still recommends caution. The virus has the ability to mutate. This could develop into a strain that is deadlier than the previous Delta and Beta variants.

The post Omicron BA.2 New Symptoms appeared first on Indo Thai News Channel - Travel l Culture l News & Event l Food.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the world focused on how to tackle it. As we know now, vaccination became our key to attaining herd immunity. Many experts say this is the reason for the pandemic’s decline. The current variant that is spreading is the Omicron lineage. The symptoms appear to be milder and many cases recover faster than that of the Delta strain. This made many believe that the pandemic will soon be downgraded into endemic.

Recent studies in Netherland could refute the claim. Viruses don’t necessarily mutate to be milder. As we were all focused on COVID, another infectious disease has been moving under the radar. HIV has reached a pandemic status at some point until people began to learn how to live with it. There is a new HIV variant discovered recently that is more transmissible than the original sequence.

HIV Variant

The new HIV variant found in the Netherlands shows three to five times higher virus presence in the bloodstream. This makes the people with the virus more infectious. Also, it is found that their immune system deteriorates faster. This could lead them to develop AIDS faster than those who were infected by the original strain. This new HIV variant already has over 500 mutations scattered across its genome.

William A. Haseltine has written extensively about the HIV virus taking years to mutate and SARS-Cov 2 being able to do it in months. With HIV, it’s a long process to pass it to another person. It would take 100 sexual contacts for a man to transmit it and 200 sexual contacts for a woman. This makes the chances of the virus evolving slower and replication could take a while. Omicron on the other hand the replication only takes hours or days. This virus can be transmitted through the air we breathe.

The COVID variants depend on transmissibility to mutate. There are already many mutations some stronger than the one prior. There will be many ways for the virus to mutate to increase transmissibility but their virulence could change. It is not necessarily a milder virulence as shown by HIV mutations. As long as we give it the grounds, it will continue to mutate.

The post New HIV Variant Discovery Sheds Light on COVID appeared first on Indo Thai News Channel - Travel l Culture l News & Event l Food.

A study of BA.2 subvariants shows signs of severity. New research suggests that it could cause severe diseases and appear to be capable against vaccines.

Japan conducted tests on the BA.2 sublineage and discovered features showing that is also capable of causing illness. Like Omicron, appears to be immune to immunizations to a great extent. A booster dose restores protection, reducing the likelihood of infection-related sickness by 74%. BA.2 is also resistant to various therapies, including the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab, which is now being utilized to treat Omicron.

The findings were published as preprint research on the bioRxiv platform on Wednesday, pending peer review. Normally, independent specialists review a study before it is published in a medical publication. Preprints allow researchers to disseminate their findings more rapidly, but they are published before the final review process.

“It might be, from a human’s perspective, a worse virus than BA.1 and might be able to transmit better and cause worse disease,” says Dr. Daniel Rhoads. He is the head of microbiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Rhoads reviewed the study but was not involved in the research.

Findings

When compared to the original Covid-causing virus that arose in Wuhan, China, BA.2 has a lot of mutations. It also features hundreds of gene modifications from the original Omicron strain. This has made it different from the most recent pandemic virus as the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta versions.

According to the findings, BA.2 should not be regarded as a form of Omicron and should be properly watched, according to Kei Sato, a researcher at the University of Tokyo who led the study.

“As you may know, BA.2 is called ‘stealth Omicron,’ ” Sato told CNN. That’s because it doesn’t show up on PCR tests as an S-gene target failure, the way Omicron does. Labs, therefore, have to take an extra step and sequence the virus to find this variant.

“Establishing a method to detect BA.2 specifically would be the first thing” many countries need to do, he says.

“It looks like we might be looking at a new Greek letter here,” agreed Deborah Fuller, a virologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who reviewed the study but was not part of the research.

Further study of the BA.2 subvariant is on the way

The post A Study of BA.2 Subvariant Points to Signs of Severity appeared first on Indo Thai News Channel - Travel l Culture l News & Event l Food.

Omicron Variant BA.1 is more contagious than delta, beta, and alpha variants. Now, a new subtype omicron BA.2 is has emerged in the UK. It began in early January and is now found in other countries. The impact of the mutation is still under study.

Currently, Denmark currently has 79% of the registered cases followed by the UK at 6%. India follows closely at 5% and Sweden at 3%. The monitoring of this new sequence depends upon a country’s health care system to sequence PCR tests.

The quick spread of this new subtype suggests that it is more contagious than the original omicron variant. Incident Director at UKHSA Meera Chand says “It is the nature of viruses to evolve and mutate, so it’s to be expected that we will continue to see new variants emerge as the pandemic goes on.”

While analysis is on the way, healthcare professionals advise that vaccination is still the best protection available.

Among the mutations, that scientists are looking out for is the possible combination of omicron and delta variants. This could lead deadlier virus. German virologist Christian Drosten stated in an interview. It becomes more dangerous when the variant “carries the spike protein of the Omicron virus to continue to enjoy that immune advantage, but has the rest of the genome of the delta virus.”

The post Omicron BA.2 A New Variant SubtypeUnder Surveillance appeared first on Indo Thai News Channel - Travel l Culture l News & Event l Food.

Dr. Tedros stated, “the narrative that it is a mild disease is misleading.” He added, “make no mistake, Omicron is causing hospitalizations and deaths, and even the less severe cases are inundating health facilities.”

Although the variant is contagious, its symptoms are mild. The concern of Dr. Tedros is that the virus could still mutate. He emphasized the importance of recording and tracking cases. Among his concerns are countries with low vaccination rates. The risk poses to unvaccinated individuals remains high.

His announcement comes as Europe reported a spike in cases where France reached almost 500,000 cases a day. Italy records more than 200,00 cases. In the middle of the surging cases, there are demands to lift restrictions. This comes from the assumption that the omicron variant is mild.

The point that WHO would like to emphasize is the ability of the virus to mutate. Allowing it to spread freely gives it the chance to evolve into something worse. WHO warning still advises promoting basic measures like wearing masks, vaccination, and social distancing.

The post WHO Warning – Pandemic NOT Over appeared first on Indo Thai News Channel - Travel l Culture l News & Event l Food.

This prediction comes in light of Europe reporting an accumulated seven million cases in the first week of 2022. Dr. Hans Kuge stated, “today the Omicron variant represents a new west-to-east tidal wave, sweeping across the region on top of the Delta surge that all countries were managing until late 2021”.

Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation based in Seattle has published the forecast quoted by Dr. Kluge.

Europe and Central Asia will be under immense pressure as the variant spreads from west to east. He also recommended that “how each country now responds must be informed by its epidemiological situation, available resources, vaccination uptake status and socio-economic context”.

Omicron studies show that it is highly contagious and can affect vaccinated individuals. It also shows that symptoms are milder than the previous variants.

The United Kingdom reported 142, 224 cases and 77 deaths last Monday, January 10, 2022. France has also sighted a rising number of cases. France’s Health Minister Olivier Veran stated that omicron was taking the “conventional” beds while delta strain is filling up the ICU beds.

Pfizer also announced that it would be able to launch a booster specifically for the omicron variant. The earliest possible release would be by March.

The post OMICRON to infect half of Europe within Weeks appeared first on Indo Thai News Channel - Travel l Culture l News & Event l Food.

Facts about Omicron Variant

The symptoms appear to be mild. Although it might not pose immediate concerns, WHO advises the public to still take precautions. It still threatens to overwhelm the healthcare system. Studies show that although it seems mild, the transmissibility is extraordinarily high.

It resembles the common flu. Headaches, runny nose, sore throat, and constant sneezing does sound like flu. Doctors recommended to have yourself tested when experiencing these symptoms. Omicron infected patients show mild fever, fatigue, scratchy throat, body pain, and night sweats. The sense of smell and taste are not affected.

Fully vaccinated people can still contract the virus and develop symptoms. Observations reveal that vaccinated patients developed mild to moderate symptoms and have fully recovered. Previously infected patients can also catch the virus.

Vomiting and loss of appetite are the symptoms that are unique to the variant.

Prevention is better than cure

WHO recommends getting tested right away and also isolate. Early detection of the virus can stop the spread of the omicron variant. Precautions, like getting vaccinated, wearing a mask, social distancing, and frequently washing hands, is still strongly recommended.

The post Omicron Variant – WHO says there is more to it appeared first on Indo Thai News Channel - Travel l Culture l News & Event l Food.