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The Omicron wave is probably not the end. There are already other variants of this SARS-CoV-2 mutation as well. “We are in a highly dynamic event,” said expert Andreas Bergthaler (MedUni Vienna/Center for Molecular Medicine; CeMM) in an online physician training session yesterday evening. In the therapy of Covid-19, most monoclonal antibodies would have lost their effect again due to the constant mutation of the pathogens.
It is also completely unclear how much longer the world will have to contend with SARS-CoV-2 in its various variants, said Bergthaler, who recently took over a professorship in molecular immunology at MedUni Vienna.
What’s driving the pandemic is the virus’ constantly emerging mutations. Bergthaler: “The mutations of SARS-CoV-2 occur two to three times slower than in influenza.” But due to the extremely short replication time of the pathogens, new mutations are constantly occurring; there is probably even a whole “cloud” of minimally different viruses in the individual patient. The fittest variant could then spread further.
“We see about two mutations per month. That’s amazingly constant. You can sort of set your Swiss watch by that.” In Austria, experts now have a “pretty good overview of the epidemiological situation” via wastewater analysis from more than 80 sewage treatment plants and thus 55 percent coverage of the population. New subvariants of Omicron have already been registered.
Challenging times ahead for hospitals
The hospital system faces a challenging time in light of the CoV variant Omikron. However, there is confidence that the increase in intensive care patients will remain manageable, said Rainer Gattringer, a physician at Klinikum Wels-Grieskirchen.
- source. ORF.at/agencies/picture: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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