Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) used human respiratory organ models to investigate the infection and replication capacity of the COVID-19 Omicron BA.5 and other variants in the human respiratory tract. The results of this research reveals the mechanism behind the high infectivity and transmission ability of the BA.5 variants.
The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Compared with the previous coronavirus variants, the transmissibility of the highly infectious COVID-19 Omicron variant has been ascribed to the neutralization of antibodies, resulting in immune escape. Immune escape occurs when the immune system is unable to adequately recognize and eliminate a pathogen. Thus the risk of breakthrough infection or re-infection has increased with the Omicron variant….