COVID-19 reinfection common with BA.5 variant

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Biotechnology

Compared with the earlier Omicron BA.2 subvariant, currently dominant Omicron BA.5 is linked with higher odds of causing a second SARS-COV-2 infection regardless of vaccination status
The researchers said 10% of BA.5 cases were reinfections, compared to 5.6% of BA.2 cases, which suggests a reduction in protection conferred by previous infection against BA.5 compared to BA.2,
The vaccines appeared to be less effective in reducing the risk of severe outcomes for BA.5 compared with BA.2.
Among those infected with 5, booster vaccination was associated with 77% and 88% reduction in risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation and death, respectively, while higher risk reduction was found for BA.2 cases, with 93% and 94%, respectively
The spike protein on its surface that SARS-CoV-2 uses to break into heart muscle cells also triggers a damaging attack from the immune system
They found that in infected heart muscle cells, only SARS-CoV-2 spike interacted with the so-called TLR4 proteins (Toll-like receptor-4) that recognise invaders and trigger inflammatory responses.
A new monoclonal antibody combination can prevent and treat Omicron infections in monkeys, researchers reported in Nature Microbiology.
The antibodies, called P2G3 and P5C3, recognise regions of the spike protein the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to enter cells. “P5C3 alone can block all SARS-CoV-2 variants that had dominated the pandemic up to Omicron BA.2

Two monkeypox cases in India not linked to Europe

Genome sequences of the first two imported cases of monkeypox detected in Kerala clearly show that they belong to a small cluster — A.2 — that was very different from the one that was first detected in the U.K. on May 6 this year and has since spread to more than 75 countries.
The genomes from the major outbreak of monkeypox cases in Europe and the rest of the world belong to the B.1 lineage.
All the three imported cases detected in Kerala were in men who had arrived from the Middle East.
The large outbreak that began in Europe in early May this year and since grown to over 21,000 cases globally has been spreading primarily through human-to-human transmission.
The sustained transmission among humans has predominantly been among men who have sex with men (MSM) and had spread across Europe in a matter of few days due to two superspreader events.
The small 2 cluster is starkly different from the large B.1 cluster that represents the virus that began spreading in Europe.