By American Association for the Development of Science (AAAS).
March 15, 2022.
Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection threat in South Africa exposes distinctions amongst variations of issue.
The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 evades resistance from prior infection, an analysis of routine security information from South Africa indicates.
Early in November 2021, South African researchers spotted SARS-CoV-2 reinfections consistent with the timing of the introduction of the Omicron variant (B. 1.1.529). To attend to whether circulation of this and likewise other variations of issue was connected with increased reinfection threat, Juliet Pulliam et al. assessed a population widely contaminated by SARS-CoV-2.
Using a design built to predict the expected number of reinfections, Pulliam et al. discovered that Beta or Delta variations seldom triggered reinfection. Nevertheless, the authors observed reinfections increase above what would be expected after early November 2021, the period of Omicron circulation.
This is a signature of immune evasion, the authors say, and the timing recommends it was associated with the emergence of the Omicron variant, which exhibits multiple anomalies in the Spike protein.
Recommendation: “Increased threat of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection connected with introduction of Omicron in South Africa” by Juliet R. C. Pulliam, Cari van Schalkwyk, Nevashan Govender, Anne von Gottberg, Cheryl Cohen, Michelle J. Groome, Jonathan Dushoff, Koleka Mlisana and Harry Moultrie, 15 March 2022, Science.DOI: 10.1126/ science.abn4947.