I forbindelse med oppstart av bemcentinib i EU-SoliAct nå hvert øyeblikk, er det noen punkter jeg har merket meg fra utenlandske medier:
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Det ser ut til at BA4 og BA5 endrer seg til å gå dypere i lungene og bli mer farlig. Se ref 1.
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Tidligere smitte fra omicron beskytter muligens ikke mot smitte fra BA4 og BA5. Se ref 1 og ref 3.
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Både tidligere smitte fra omicron, samt vaksinasjon og booster, beskytter ikke nødvendigvis mot å bli smittet av BA4 og BA5. Se ref 4.
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Smitte og sykehusinnleggelser ser ut til å øke endel i UK. Se ref 2.
Her er referanser til ovenstående med sitater og lenker:
Ref 1:
Experts worry these latest mutations may have evolved to infect lung tissue, as did the earliest forms of the virus, making them more dangerous.
Meanwhile, infection from BA.1 or BA.2 may not protect against the newest variants.
“It looks as though these things are switching back to the more dangerous form of infection, so going lower down in the lung,” Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, told the Guardian.
In response to whether the virus is on the verge of turning into the common cold, he added: “It clearly isn’t, and there’s no pressure on it to do that, really.”
Lenke ref 1: New Covid-19 wave explained as virus now 'more dangerous' - with top 3 UK hotspots revealed - Chronicle Live
Ref 1:
Scientists fear the sub-variants may be similar to the more deadly Alpha and Delta variants
The latest sub-variants of Omicron may have evolved to target the lung, prompting fears the next wave of the Covid could be starting.
Hospital admissions for Covid patients in England have begun to grow again, new NHS data shows.
Lenke ref 1: Covid UK: Omicron sub-variants ‘evolving to target the lungs and overcome immunity’ | The Independent
Ref 2:
The UK now appears to be at the start of a new wave of covid infections driven by the rise of two omicron subvariants—BA.4 and BA.5.
Cases and hospital admissions with covid are now rising sharply, official figures show.
The current rate of increase in hospital admissions is faster than seen during the BA.2 omicron wave in March. John Roberts, an actuary and member of the covid-19 actuaries response group, wrote on Twitter, “So whilst the current level of admissions is still below the lowest level between the BA.1 and BA.2 surges, it’s the current rate of growth that should be of concern.”
Ref 3:
Omicron shows a growth advantage compared with earlier variants. And new data published this week78 show that it also appears to be good at evading the immune system, so even infection with omicron does not induce particularly good immunity against future infection with this variant.
Lenke ref 2 og 3: https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1506
Ref 4:
People infected with the earliest version of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, first identified in South Africa in November, may be vulnerable to reinfection with later versions of Omicron even if they have been vaccinated and boosted, new findings suggest.
Those newer sublineages “notably evade the neutralizing antibodies elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination,” the researchers found in test-tube experiments.
Lenke ref 4: Early Omicron infection unlikely to protect against current variants | Reuters