Hey, guys welcome to another post recently the Delta Variant of COVID-19 strain B.1.617.2 has been spreading across the globe.
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| Photo by Ivan Diaz on Unsplash |
IS IT MORE CONTAGIOUS? WILL THE VACCINES WORK AGAINST IT? IS IT A DEADLIER DISEASE WITH WORSE SYMPTOMS?
I'm going to get to these questions in a little bit but first, a quick update on covid us has over 33 million confirmed cases and more than 601000 deaths worldwide that's about 180 million cases and close to 4 million deaths according to the CDC almost 150 million Americans have been fully vaccinated that's about 45 percent of the population the delta variant first emerged in India and then it made its way to England to become the dominant strain there.
DOES THE DELTA VARIANT CAUSE A MORE SEVERE DISEASE?
Is the delta variant more pathogenic meaning it is more likely to cause worse disease, yes in a study done in Scotland which was published in the lancet researchers showed that the risk of being hospitalized with the delta variant is double that of the alpha variant?
HOW CONTAGIOUS (TRANSMISSIBLE IS THE DELTA VARIANT?
Recently the delta variant has made its way to the u.s where already constitutes 10 percent of covid cases however that figure is doubling every two weeks and it's only a matter of time before it becomes a dominant strain right now in the midwest it makes up about 25 percent of cases in Colorado, Montana North and South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming now in a study done in the UK from May 20th to June 7th the researchers led by Stephen Riley they looked at their data which suggested that the delta variant is about 60 more transmissible than the alpha which was the variant that was first identified in the UK which was more contagious than the original strain that was originally emerging from Wuhan the research team showed that with the delta variant there was a doubling time of 11 days in an estimated R or a reproductive number of 1.44 and those younger than age 50 were two and a half times more likely to be infected compared to older people.
Another study looked at whether vaccines monoclonal antibodies or antibodies derived from covid 19 survivors could neutralize the delta variants here are some of the takeaways from that study :
01. The data showed that the delta's variant affinity for the ACE2 receptor was slightly better compared with the original Wuhan strain one of the delta's mutations is in its receptor-binding domain and that's what allows for this virus to use spike protein to bind to the ACE2 receptor in the body it's the key in the lock analogy the virus then fuses with the cell membrane this process relies on cleavage meaning enzymes on the cell membranes that cut that spike protein at two different sites which trigger the cell to then engulf this virus. It's the turning of the deadbolt if you will. Well, guess what the delta variant is also better at doing.
02. Delta mutation at one of the cleavage sites better cleavage better reproduction another takeaway from the study is that the authors concluded that neutralization of both viruses is reduced when compared with the original Wuhan strain but there's no evidence of widespread antibody escape they said the data did suggest that those previously infected with covid may be more susceptible to re-infection by the new delta variant. Also, it looks like monoclonal antibody treatments are ineffective at treating the delta variant.
ARE VACCINES EFFECTIVE?
The big concern is vaccine escape meaning that the current vaccines will become far less effective as the virus evolves so far it hasn't happened but eventually we'll need new vaccines for the variants likely a yearly thing the good news is that these vaccines are still protective against the delta variant. According to research released by public health England for the Pfizer vaccine after both doses, it was 88 effective in preventing symptomatic disease and 96 effective at preventing hospitalization for The Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine if they had both shots it was 92 effective at preventing hospitalization. If you only get one shot of either one of these vaccines the effectiveness is pretty low it's around 30 to 40 percent so more studies will soon be available when it comes to the Moderna and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
DELTA VARIANT AND DIFFERENT SYMPTOMS?
There's also talk about this delta variant having new symptoms and possibly more severe symptoms so Tim Spector who's a professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King's College in London he runs the Zoe covet symptoms study this is an ongoing UK-based study where people can enter their symptoms on an app. Which then gets analyzed by the researchers from this study he noted that covid is now acting differently it's more like a bad cold especially in the younger population.
The number one symptom being headache and then other symptoms including sore throat runny nose and fever so that's gonna be all for this one thank you for reading and if you did like this post don't forget that like button and if you haven't done so already hit that subscribe and bail notification see you. Take care guys!
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