The Omicron variant appears to spare the lungs, as compared to previous coronavirus variants, which could be why it causes less severe disease.
In new studies on mice and hamsters, the Omicron variant led to less damaging infections and appeared to be limited to the upper airway, which includes the nose, throat, and windpipe. Previous variants often caused lung scarring and serious breathing issues.
“It’s fair to say that the idea of a disease that manifests itself primarily in the upper respiratory system is emerging,” Roland Eils, PhD, a biologist at the Berlin Institute of Health who has studied how coronaviruses infect the airway, toldWhen the Omicron variant emerged in November, researchers noted the large number of mutations and expressed concerns about how it might affect patients.
During the past month, more than a dozen research groups have studied the Omicron variant in the lab to understand how it affects the body. Although COVID-19 cases have surged across the world, hospitalizations have only increased slightly, and the variant appears to cause less severe disease than previous strains.on hamsters and mice that were infected with the Omicron variant or earlier coronavirus strains. Those infected with Omicron had less lung damage and were less likely to die.
“This was surprising since every other variant has robustly infected these hamsters,” Michael Diamond, MD, a study co-author and a virologist at Washington University, told the newspaper.
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