STUDY OF OMICRON BY SAYAN KAR,STUDING MSC,CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY.

1. STUDY OF OMICRON
Mr. Sayan kar
(University of Calcutta)
m

2. WHAT IS OMICRON?
• On Nov 25, 2021, about 23 months since the first reported case of
COVID-19 and after a global estimated 260 million cases and 5·2
million deaths,a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern (VoC), omicron,was
reported from South Africa.
• Omicron is a newly discovered strain of the deadly corona(SARS-COV-2)
virus which is very dangerous and highly transmisable variant.
• On 26 novembor 2021,WHO designated the variant B.1.1.529 a
variant of concern,named omicron.
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3. EARLY CASE OF OMICRON:
The first sequenced omicron case was reported from
Botswana on Nov 11, 2021, and a few days later
another sequenced case was reported from Hong Kong
in a traveller from South Africa.Several sequences from
South Africa followed, after initial identification that the
new variant was associated with an S-gene target failure
on a specific PCR assay because of a 69–70del
deletion, similar to that observed with the alpha
variant.The earliest known case of omicron in South
Africa was a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 on Nov 9,
2021.
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4. THE CURVE:
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5. MUTATIONAL CHANGES:
• This is the dominant strain among all at the present
time.
• More than 50 mutations have been identified in the
deadly strain of SARS-COV-2,all these mutations
among them were detected by respective scientists
very specifically in the spike proein of that strain.
• Very specifically about 3 deletion and 1 insertion
has been discovered in the receptor binding
domain(RBD).Total 30 amino acids has substituted
by another amino acids by the event of several
mutations in their spike protein of this new variant.
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6. LOCATIONs OF MUTATION:
• These are the locations of mutation in the spike
protein of omicron,here the left side and right
side view showing amino acid substitutions
(yellow), deletions (red), and insertions (green).
In this trimeric structure, two monomers (gray
and light blue) have their receptor-binding
domains in the "down" conformation while one
(dark blue) is in the "up" or "open" conformation.
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7. OBSERVATION:
• Extrapolations based on known mutations and
preliminary observations, which should be
interpreted with caution, indicate that
omicron might spread faster and might escape
antibodies more readily than previous variants,
thereby increasing cases of reinfection and
cases of mild breakthrough infections in
people who are vaccinated.
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8. WHY CORONA VIRUSES ARE CONTINUOUSLY
BEING MUTATING?
• The main cause of RNA virus replication machinery generally does not have
an error correction ability, as all other cells and most DNA viruses do. For
example, influenza viruses causing seasonal flu have an error rate of 0.5
nucleotide positions per genome per cell infection. This means mutations
accumulate rapidly as the virus multiplies in one person.
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9. Will the COVID-19 vaccines work on the new variants?
• Several laboratory evidences have shown that some immune
responses driven by current vaccines could be less effective
against some of these variants. The immune response involves
many components, including B cells that make antibodies and
T cells that can react to infected cells, and a reduction in one
does not mean that the vaccines will not offer protection.
• “People who have received the vaccines should watch for
changes in guidance from the CDC [Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention], and continue with coronavirus safety
precautions to reduce the risk of infection, such as mask
wearing, physical distancing and hand hygiene.”
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10. General defensive to fight against new Voc:
The precautionary measurement is remain same as the previous.
Wear full face mask instead of half face mask.
Use sanitizer.
PPE should be used in croweded place.
Check body temperature in several times in every day.
Take bath at the time when came back to the home.
Rubing hands.
Maintain physical distance not mental.
Avoid crowded place.
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11. CONCLUSION
At the end of this presentation I must have to conclude that
the variant has some new characteristics features by which it
can easily transmit and induce it’s bad effect in our body. Some
significant mutational changes really make the virus very
powerful against human and the causes of these mutations
are under the research.
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