Skip to main content

The Omicron


By Noralyn Onto Dudt

OMICRON, the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet has been drafted  by the World Health Organization as the name for the new COVID-19 variant, technically known as the B.1.1.529 variant. The Omicron variant is a reminder of what scientists and medical experts have been saying for months: COVID-19 will thrive as long as vast numbers of the global population are not vaccinated.

Scientists say that Omicron is the weirdest creature they have ever encountered with 30 unruly swarm of mutations scattered on three major prongs of the spike protein that is essential to the virus ability to infect cells,  a first of its kind with so many mutations gathered in "one package." Even though some of these mutations are recognizable,  many of them are new and utterly enigmatic.

That said, scientists do not want to get ahead of the facts: no one knows exactly yet how this variant behaves in real-world situations. However, should they find a high degree of immune-evasiveness, vaccine makers will have to revise their formulas,  something already in the works at preliminary stage.

Is it really as bad as it looks at first glance ?  Earlier variants including Alpha and Delta had mutated in ways that enhanced their transmissibility.  The latest preliminary study showed that the Omicron variant is likely to have picked up genetic material from another virus that causes the common cold in humans. This suggests that the Omicron variant could have greater transmissibility but lower virulence than other variants of the coronavirus.  However, scientists have long feared the possibility that the coronavirus would evolve to become a more slippery,  elusive pathogen—evading, even if only partially,  the first lines of defense from the immune system, including neutralizing antibodies.

When a virus infects a human, the virus attaches itself to the human cells and once it is inside , it makes copies of its RNA which helps it spread. If there's an error in the copying process, the RNA gets altered or changed. Those alterations are called mutations. The mutations change one  amino acid to another in a way that can alter the structure or chemistry of the protein and prevent antibodies from binding as they normally would.  When a virus replicates, the end copy has differences in DNA and RNA.  Mutations arise from those differences.  A "collection"  of these mutations becomes a variant. 

So where do we go from here? Many elements of the Omicron are still unknown. Scientists are literally working day and night to find out more. However, their advice is: vaccination is still the key. Vaccines work by training the immune system against the coronavirus spike protein. Had it not been for the vaccines that were jabbed into our arms, many more millions would have died.

There are other elements of the immune system such as "killer" T cells. These are immune cells that recognize and attack virus-infected cells and educate anti-body producing B cells about the viral risk they are facing. Scientists believe that the T cells can see the differences between variants, and that the T cell repertoire is much more impervious to it, guaranteeing some protection. Vaccinated individuals are roughly 9x less likely to die if they become infected with the Omicron.

Although it is difficult to predict from a virus' mutations how it will act, many scientists say they think omicron may ultimately require a revised vaccine.  The major vaccine companies are at work doing that.  Pfizer and BioNTech have announced that adapting their vaccine will take six weeks and that the first batches could be shipped within 100 days.

Unless more of the world population becomes vaccinated, the frenzy of worry is likely to continue to repeat. Health experts say that "if we don't develop systems to immunize the whole world in four months, instead of four years, we are not going to be successful against these kind of pandemic threats."   Viruses adapt and they change, and unless we develop generalized global immunity more readily, we will always be in the mercy of one pandemic after another. It is a colossal task that requires a herculean effort and cooperation by the international community.

 

Noralyn Onto Dudt is a resident of North Bethesda, Maryland near the National Institutes of Health.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become an annua

PIDS expert says income tax cuts justified; warns gov’t of revenue loss

Proposals to amend the personal income tax schedule appear to be well-justified. However, these proposals should include measures that will allow government to recover the revenue loss from lower income taxes. Dr. Rosario Manasan, senior research fellow of state think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), said at a seminar sponsored by the Philippine Senate, that government should look for new revenue measures to compensate for the projected revenue loss that will arise as a result of the implementation of any of the various proposals to restructure the personal income tax. Currently, there are several income tax reform proposals pending in both houses of Congress. All of them, according to Dr. Manasan, have the same objective of addressing the phenomenon of bracket creep, which results from “non-indexation to inflation of personal income tax brackets”. Simply put, bracket creep occurs when employees’ income increases over time as a result of inflation. Th

PGIN honors Ilocano heroes of past, present through Heroes Walk

SPO1 Allan Lampitoc Franco of Banna, Ilocos Norte and PO2 Jovalyn D. Lozano of Adams, Ilocos Norte receive a resolution of commendation, a certificate of college scholarship grant to their family members and a P20,000 cash incentive each from the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte represented by Governor Imee R. Marcos and Vice Governor Angelo M. Barba in recognition of their bravery and heroic acts in the Mamasapano clash in Maguindanao on January 25. Mr. Franco and Mr. Lozano were recognized on March 10 in time for the unveiling of the second batch of Ilocano heroes at the Heroes Walk located along the Sirib Mile in Laoag City.  (Lei Adriano) By Jennifer T. Pambid PGIN-CMO In honor of the heroes who brought freedom, fame and glory to the province as well as to the country in the past century, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) through the Education Department and Sirib Youth Office launched the second batch of Ilocano Heroes Walk on March 10, 2015.