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  • Health Experts warn of "reinfection in massive mode" of omicron

All those who spent Christmas locked up at home with Covid wonder: but

if I got infected with omicron, can I be reinfected?



The first consideration to make is that very few

have the privilege of knowing if they were infected with omicron

: even if the coronavirus test is subjected to genomic analysis, no one reports that they have contracted omicron, Delta, Beta, Gamma or who know which one. The information remains in the laboratories that communicate the data to the Health of each territory to compile statistics on the prevalence of variants.



Therefore, it is not entirely certain that those who are infected today are infected with omicron since

Delta has not yet disappeared

and there are the so-called "revolutionary infections", those that also affect those who have been vaccinated or infected, although to a much lesser extent. measurement, also with Delta. It should be reiterated that the anti-Covid vaccines (created on the Wuhan strain) are not 100% effective neither in contagion nor in serious illness.



However, it is known from data from the UK (a country that sequences a lot) that

those who are vaccinated are more likely to be infected with omicron

than other variants. In detail

, those who have three doses are 4.5 times more likely to test positive for omicron

than unvaccinated people and people who receive double doses are 2.3 times more likely to be infected with omicron than other variants.

The fact is that unvaccinated people are generally more likely to test positive for Covid, regardless of the variant. The Imperial College London report confirms the trend, estimating that "the risk of reinfection with the omicron variant is 5.4 times that of the Delta variant."



In a nutshell,

those who get vaccinated (even with a third dose) and get infected are likely (but not certain) to have encountered omicron

and thanks to the vaccines and the possible lower pathogenicity of the new variant, no they have developed a serious illness



The last (and now anachronistic) survey of the Higher Institute of Health of Italy dated December 23 said that

the cases of omicron in Italy were 28%

on average with some areas where 80% had been reached (in Lombardy, 40%) with a doubling of cases, at that time, every two days. Sewage analysis reported that omicron began to circulate in Milan between December 9 and 12, and since the new variant is a true tsunami

, we can assume that it is prevalent today

.



Therefore

, it is very likely that anyone who got sick during the holidays or who is sick now is due to omicron

, especially if he is vaccinated.

So is it possible to get a second infection with omicron?

Mario Clerici

, Professor of Immunology at the State University of Milan, assures: "I would say no because the immune response, with antibodies and T lymphocytes, is powerful and specific for the virus with which it comes into contact, so I create a new one" . It is very unlikely that you will get infected with omicron again, if you have actually been infected with omicron.

Instead, it will be possible to catch an infection from another variant

, perhaps Delta or some new mutated strain that may emerge in the coming months, a fairly likely scenario as long as the virus continues to circulate.



In other words: if I get infected with one variant, it is possible that I will get infected with another variant and it is very unlikely that I will be contacted again, at least in the short term, with the same variant.



"The history of immunology tells us that it

is almost impossible to be infected with the same variant

, so there are no specific studies on the subject," explains Clerici. "

Sars-CoV-2

is not like measles that does not change. Those who contract measles or are vaccinated will no longer suffer from the disease. With

Covid

, as with respiratory viruses in general, things are different because

there is no sterilizing immunity

. However, even with the passage of time, even with a decrease in specific antibodies against

omicron

, the T lymphocytes that will protect us from the disease will continue to circulate: perhaps someone can be re-infected with omicron after a while but, thanks to the work of the T cells, without realizing it and without any symptoms of disease".

Virologist

Fabrizio Pregliasco

agrees: “I think it is unlikely that you will get sick with omicron again, at least in the short term, and I would like to assure those who have just been infected that

they will not suffer a new infection with the same strain

. The

coronavirus

doesn't provide long-term protection, so even the vaccine, created with the Wuhan strain, limps a bit. As happens with the flu, perhaps in one or two years

Covid

can be resumed , which

will no longer be omicron because in the meantime it will have changed

, since Sars CoV-2 is unstable.

3% of current cases are people who were infected in the first wave: time has passed and most of those infected in the first hour have also remained protected by omicron because statistically a good long-term immune response is maintained " .

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Know more

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