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Expert answer: Can a person be infected from Omicron twice

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While Omicron is known to cause Covid re-infection, there is no strong evidence yet in the favour of a person being affected with the vaccine dodging strain again, said Indian health experts here on Monday. However, they also did not rule out such a possibility.

An individual’s immunity which has been primed by prior infection or vaccination has the memory of the parent virus.

But because Omicron is a deviant, meaning it has deviated quite a lot from its parent Covid strain, it has many dissimilarities.

As a result, “our immune system fails to recognise the virus as the original virus and hence the chance of re-infection. Along with the above the waning immunity of naturally infected individuals with passage of time will also contribute to the re-infection”, Dr. Dipu T.S, Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Amrita Hospital, Kochi, told IANS.

Although re-infections are there, “there is not yet strong evidence in favour” of Omicron recurring in an individual, added Dr. Ashok Mahashur, Consultant Chest Physician at P.D Hinduja Hospital and MRC, Mahim, Mumbai.

A recent study led by the UK’s Imperial College London has showed that the risk of re-infection with the Omicron variant is 5.4 times greater than that of the Delta variant.

“This implies that the protection against reinfection by Omicron afforded by past infection may be as low as 19 percent,” said the researchers.

Dr. Rahul Pandit Director, Critical Care, Fortis Hospitals Mumbai, said, “Omicron causes re-infection because it has an ‘immune escape phenomenon’ – that means that people who had acquired infection before and had antibodies, because of that or who are vaccinated and have antibodies, or have both, which is known as ‘hybrid immunity'”.

Omicron has more than 30 mutations on its spike proteins, helping it to escape immunity. That is why it is infecting people who were previously having antibodies as well.

“However, there is no understanding if Omicron infection would happen again in these people, or not; that remains to be studied and seen,” Pandit, who is also a member of National and Maharashtra’s Covid-19 Taskforce, told IANS.

“We should not be speculating if such re-infection would happen or not. I haven’t seen any case as such of a patient with Omicron getting re-infected with another Omicron infection, neither has been reported anywhere in the medical journals and medical literature yet,” he said.

But, some western experts have argued that Omicron can reoccur.

“Yes, you can get Omicron twice,” Stanley Weiss, Professor at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School was quoted as saying in a media report.

While, “the data regarding Omicron specifically is just coming out, but there’s no reason to think that Omicron in this regard is any different than the previous variants”, added William Schaffner, Professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, in the report.

However, Kingston Mills, Professor of Experimental Immunology at Trinity College Dublin said it was “too early” for people infected with the virus and then caught again. The picture may be clear in six months’ time, Mills was quoted as saying to Financial Times.

Mahashur said that in India, cases of Covid re-infection have been reported and especially among those with low immunity.

“The best way to prevent this is by following a Covid appropriate behaviour. Because there is no way to know whether the virus is there or not. The virus may be there, but the patient may be asymptomatic, so the best way to prevent it is by taking vaccines, wearing masks, washing hands properly, and avoiding crowded places,” Mahashur told IANS.

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Covid toll in Karnataka is a worrying sign for state government

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Even though Karnataka recorded the lowest number of Covid deaths in April since the virus struck first in 2020, the state is recording a rise in the positivity rate (1.50 per cent). Five people died from the Covid infections in April as per the statistics released by the state health department. In March, the positivity rate stood around 0.53 per cent. In the first week of April it came down to 0.38 per cent, second week registered 0.56 per cent, third week it rose to 0.79 per cent and by end of April the Covid positivity rate touched 1.19 per cent.

on an average 500 persons used to succumb everyday in the peak of Covid infection, as per the data. Health experts said that the mutated Coronavirus is losing its fierce characteristics as vaccination, better treatment facilities and awareness among the people have contributed to the lesser number of Covid deaths.

During the 4th and 6th of April two deaths were reported in Bengaluru, one in Gadag district on April 8, two deaths were reported from Belagavi and Vijayapura on April 30. The first Covid case was reported in the state in March 2020 and three Covid deaths were recorded in the month. In the following month 21 people became victims to the deadly virus, and May 2020 recorded 22 deaths. The death toll recorded everyday after May crossed three digits. However, the third wave, which started in January 2

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