Context According tothe study by researchers from the LKS Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 infects and multiplies faster than the Delta variant and original SARS-CoV-2 in the human bronchus.
The study may explain why it may transmit faster between people than previous variants.
Key findings of the study
Omicron does not easily infect the lower lungs and this potentially explains why instances of severe disease are lower in cases involving Omicron.
Omicron replicated around 70 times higher than the Delta variant and the original SARS-CoV-2 virus over 24 hours.
In contrast, the Omicron variant replicated less efficiently (more than 10 times lower) in the lung tissue than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The severity of disease is not determined only by virus replication but also by the host immune response, which may lead to dysregulation of the innate immune system.
By infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic.
