Inside simply three weeks after the Omicron variant was first recognized in Houston Methodist sufferers, this variant shortly took over and have become the reason for nearly all of new instances. In distinction, the Delta variant took about three months to achieve the identical milestone after preliminary detection. By early 2022, omicron prompted 98 p.c of all new COVID-19 instances and had contaminated 4,468 Houston Methodist sufferers as of Jan. 5.
Within the first US peer-reviewed examine inspecting omicron sufferers and their outcomes, Houston Methodist physicians and scientists present that omicron sufferers are considerably youthful, have increased vaccine breakthrough charges, are much less prone to be hospitalized, and are much less prone to be hospitalized have shorter hospital stays than sufferers with COVID-19 brought on by the alpha or delta variants. In line with this lowered illness severity, sufferers contaminated with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 required much less intensive respiratory help and had shorter hospital stays.
The outcomes of this examine are described in an article titled “Indicators ofSIGNALly Elevated Vaccine Breakthrough, Diminished Hospitalization Charges, and Much less Extreme Sickness in Sufferers With COVID-19 Attributable to the Omicron Variant of SARS-CoV-2 in Houston, Texas,” which seems February 3 within the American Journal of Pathology. James M. Musser, MD, Ph.D., Chair of the Division of Pathology and Genome Medication on the Houston Methodist, is the examine’s corresponding creator.
In comparison with Houston Methodist sufferers contaminated with Alpha or Delta variants, the imply age of Omicron sufferers was 44.3 years, in comparison with an age of fifty years for Alpha and 48.3 years for Delta; The size of keep for inpatients was 3.2 days for Omicron, 5.1 days for Alpha, and 5.4 days for Delta; and omicron resulted in 55.4% of breakthrough instances in vaccinated sufferers, whereas solely 5.4% and 0.9% of vaccinated sufferers had been contaminated with the alpha and delta variants, respectively.
As of mid-January, researchers have additionally recognized three sufferers with the BA.2 “stealth-omicron” variant, which requires full genome sequencing to differentiate them from Delta and the unique BA.1-omicron pressure. These had been the primary three “stealth omicron” instances found in Texas.
Houston Methodist has one of many largest and most complete SARS-CoV-2 virus genome sequencing research within the nation, analyzing the genome of each constructive COVID-19 pattern recognized all through the Houston Methodist hospital system. To remain one step forward of the virus and detect mutations that affect affected person outcomes, e.g. B. trigger extra critical illnesses or adversely have an effect on therapies and vaccines, Houston Methodist has sequenced practically 80,000 SARS-CoV-2 virus genomes for the reason that starting of the pandemic.
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Journal reference:
Christensen, PA, et al. (2022) Indicators of considerably elevated vaccine breakthrough, lowered hospitalization charges, and fewer extreme sickness in sufferers with COVID-19 brought on by the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in Houston, Texas. The American Journal of Pathology. doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2022.01.007.
