For the time being, the reduced severity of Omicron is good news, but it is the result of an "evolutionary mistake," according to a leading Indian-origin scientist from the university of Cambridge because Covid-19 is broadcasting very efficiently and there is no purpose for it to become relatively mild, indicating that the next variant could be more highly pathogenic. 

Ravindra Gupta, a professor of Clinical Microbiology at the Cambridge Institute for Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Diseases (CITIID), led new research on the Omicron variant and was one of the first in the world to describe the altered cell fusion mechanism at work, which could make Omicron more noticeable to the body's immune defenses. 

While the study discovered that the new variety, which is prevalent in the UK and is currently sweeping areas of India, infects lungs cells less, the virus itself has no plans to grow gentler. In an interview with PTI on Thursday, Prof. Gupta said, "There is this belief that viruses get more benign over time, but that's not what's occurring here since those are long-term evolutionary patterns."

"SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) does not have that problem since it transmits very efficiently, so it has no motive to become milder, especially in the period of vaccination, when there are so many vulnerable hosts." That is why I believe it is an evolutionary blunder. "It's not something the virus is attempting to do on purpose to change its biology," he clarified.

"This finding of reduced severity with Omicron is certainly wonderful news for the time being, but the next variant, if there is one, will not necessarily have similar characteristics and could revert to the severity we've observed before." "And, in fact, I believe it will." As a result, stopping infection may be preferable to what I've heard, which is that this is being viewed as a natural vaccination. That's understandable, but it's also risky because we don't know the whole impact of different varieties on our health," he explained.
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SIBY JEYYA

08/01/2022 09:30 AM