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IS OMICRON THE EXPECTED MUTATION? THE ANSWER TO THE CLAIM THAT ‘IT WILL END THE PANDEMIC’ HAS ARRIVED!
There are quite a lot of unknowns about the Omicron variant that has been on the world’s agenda lately. Some experts believe that Omicron is the likely variant that will end the pandemic. So, is the Omicron variant really a ‘promising’ variant?
Omicron is a variant species said to have spread from South Africa. Omicron, which has spread to various parts of the world in a short time, is especially seen in young people. For now, Omicron is less deadly than other variants, as it is only seen in certain age groups. Well, what does this mean? Experts explained.
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IS THERE A DIFFERENCE DEC OMICRON AND DELTA?
Are some differences between Delta, the most dangerous and deadly variant of the coronavirus, and Omicron, the new variant. Head of the Department of Virology and Basic Immunology, Department of Medical Microbiology, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Dr. said, “The Omicron variant is a variant that came out in South Africa. It is especially common in young people, and even the first case was seen in a young person. Omicron has 50 different mutations, 32 of which are in the spike region. This difference in delta is 9. Therefore, it is not very correct to generalize by looking at the clinical symptoms now, the virus is more recent,” he said.
Regarding the situation related to the fact that there is no loss of taste and smell in cases related to the Omicron variant, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Head of the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases Prof. Dr. “In the first case where the Omicron variant was seen, and as a result of the examination of those around it, there was no loss of taste and smell. However, it is very wrong in this process to use such an expression as Omicron does not cause loss of taste and smell. Based on the clinical findings we have now, there have not been enough cases to say ‘Dec are the following differences between Delta and Omicron’. In order to be able to comment, it is necessary to observe more cases,” he said.
There is also a comment that the difference Omicron and Delta is not obvious, Virologist Dr. said, “The mutation numbers are much different between Delta Omicron. There are many more mutations in Omicron. We can’t say ‘There is a difference between Omicron and Delta in terms of smell and taste decadence’. It’s too early to say because there’s no data that it is,” he commented.
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DID OMICRON SPREAD FROM MICE?
It has been commented that it may have spread from mice to Omicron, which is stated to have spread from South Africa. Regarding this claim, Turkish Prof. Dr. said, “These are purely hypothetical interpretations. The fact that any variant is seen in a mouse or other living being does not indicate that that variant comes from the said living being. Leave aside the fact that the virus comes from mice, coronaviruses are known to come from bats. In order for the virus to mutate, it must be transmitted and multiply. A lot of mutations develop when transmitting from person to person. In other words, in order for a virus to mutate, it does not need to be passed from animal to human first. The virus is already mutating more when it is transmitted from person to person,” he said.
“When we look at Omicron, the number of mutations, as well as the position of Omicron in the family tree, gives us three hypotheses, ” said Turkish Virologist Dr. said: “One of them is a reverse zoonosis, that is, it has from humans to another animal and continued to reproduce and mutate between these animals, and then returned to humans again. The second hypothesis is that this virus has been circulating and multiplying among people for quite while. A third hypothesis may also be found in people with low immunity, for example, cancer patients or HIV-positive patients who cause AIDS. The virus has been spreading for a long time because it has not been kept under control. In this way, it could have passed from people to people and acquired mutations.”
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VACCINES PROVIDE ADEQUATE PROTECTION
So do vaccines against the Omicron variant provide adequate protection? Prof. Doctor “According to the statement of the Pfizer spokesperson, the BioNTech vaccine has a certain protectiveness. But the vaccines that will be newly produced must also contain this virus. Just as the virus has undergone a variant, in terms of the protein present in it, their replacement in the vaccine will be much more protective,” he commented.
“Moderna and Pfizer-Biontech have started updated vaccine studies, ” said Virologist Dr. According to, this may take months to prove its effectiveness and get approval. “Because our data show that the dose of supplementation is sufficient, it is recommended to take a supplemental dose without waiting for the updated vaccine if it is time,” said. So do not wait for the updated vaccine. If it’s your time, take your dose of supplements. We don’t really know if the current vaccine will arrive. I think that an updated vaccine against Omicron may be required,” he said.
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CAN OMICRON BRING AN END TO THE PANDEMIC?
A number of experts have commented that there is a variant with the power to end the pandemic in terms of the low effects created by the Omicron variant. “I believe that one of the conditions necessary for the end of the epidemic is a mutation,” said Prof. Doctor, also expressed the following:”Such a mutation will develop that it will not harm people, but it will multiply very quickly. To say this, this mutation needs to be transmitted faster than Delta. In this process, this is also not possible at the moment because we have not seen enough cases to be able to detect Omicron. Even if we do, we should also see the effect of this variant on risk groups and comment accordingly.”
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WE CAN’T SAY LIGHTER, LESS HARMFUL
Virologist Dr. also said that there is no data on the milder effect of Omicron, saying: “Hospital cases, serious cases and deaths are always understood afterwards. For example, it takes time for the virus to get infected, the symptoms to increase, to spread to a certain population. Let’s take England as an example. There is a period of 1 month between the first case and the first decease in the UK. It hasn’t been 1 month since we realized what Omicron is yet. So it’s too early to understand whether Omicron really has a mild or serious effect,” he said.
“In addition, the Omicron variant is dominant and increasing in the region called Guateng in South Africa,” said, citing South Africa as an example. and with the increasing severity of the Omicron variant, cases in the hospital continue to increase again. What do we get from here? Omicron is actually no different from Delta. In other words, we cannot say that it is the same severity as Delta, therefore it is lighter, less harmful,”he shared the details.
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VIRUSES DON’T JUST DISAPPEAR
Regarding the interpretation that the coronavirus can end with the Omicron variant, Virologist said, “Viruses don’t weaken out of the blue, viruses don’t work that way. This has never been the case in the history of science. It won’t be like that now. For viruses to weaken, there must be an evolutionary selection pressure,” he explained.
“If the virus cannot spread successfully, it creates a selection pressure,” said. “The virus also evolves to spread successfully, and mutations occur in this direction. Since the beginning of the pandemic, this virus has already been spreading successfully. That’s why there’s no selective pressure on him to weaken. The interpretation that Omicron is the mutation that scientists have been waiting for is quite wrong. This is entirely due to a misunderstanding of virology and evolutionary biology.”
“An epidemic began in New York in the early 1980s, and it was not known at that time what this epidemic was,” said virologist, who gave an example of the situation. Scientists and we realized that this is AIDS. So the HIV virus causes AIDS. It’s been 49 years, but the AIDS virus hasn’t weakened. This shows us that the virus doesn’t work that way, so the viruses don’t weaken for no reason. That is why the expression ‘the variant we expect’ is concepts that do not fit into evolutionary biology and virology. Therefore, we cannot say that Omicron is the variant that will end this epidemic,” he stressed.
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Turkey's world-renowned organ transplant specialist. Dr. Demirbaş has 104 international publications and 102 national publications.
Physician's Resume:
Born on August 7, 1963 in Çorum, Prof. Dr. Alper Demirbaş has been continuing his work as the President of MedicalPark Antalya Hospital Organ Transplantation Center since 2008.
Prof. who performed the first tissue incompatible kidney transplant in Turkey, the first blood type incompatible kidney transplant, the first kidney-pancreas transplant program and the first cadaveric donor and live donor liver transplant in Antalya. Dr. As of August 2016, Alper Demirbaş has performed 4900 kidney transplants, 500 liver transplants and 95 pancreas transplants.
In addition to being the chairman of 6 national congresses, he has also been an invited speaker at 12 international and 65 national scientific congresses. Dr. Alper Demirbaş was married and the father of 1 girl and 1 boy.
Awards:
Eczacibasi Medical Award of 2002, Akdeniz University Service Award of 2005, Izder Medical Man of the Year Award of 2006, BÖHAK Medical Man of the Year Award of 2007, Sabah Mediterranean Newspaper Scientist of the Year Award of 2007, ANTIKAD Scientist of the Year Award of 2009, Social Ethics Association Award of 2010, Işık University Medical Man of the Year Award of 2015, VTV Antalya's Brand Value Award of 2015.
Certificates:
Doctor of Medicine Degree Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Ankara, General Surgeon Ministry of Health Turkey EKFMG (0-477-343-8), University of Miami School of Medicine Member of Multiple Organ Transplant, ASTS Multiorgan Transplant Scholarship. Lecturer at Kyoto University. Lecturer at University of Essen, Research assistant at the University of Cambridge .
Professional Members:
American Society of Transplant Surgeons, American Transplantation Society Nominated, Middle East and Southern Africa Council Transplantation Society 2007, International Liver Transplantation Association, Turkish Transplantation Association, Turkish Society of Surgery, Turkish Hepatobiliary Surgery Association.
Disclaimer:
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