Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep 20:15:2632010X221124908.
doi: 10.1177/2632010X221124908. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.

Characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) Variant and Emerging Impact on Global Public Health

Md Rabiul Islam  1 , Waheeda Nasreen  1 , Ramisa Anjum  1 , Mohammad Shahriar  1 , Arpita Roy  2 , Kuldeep Dhama  3 , Mohiuddin Ahmed Bhuiyan  1
Affiliations

Characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) Variant and Emerging Impact on Global Public Health

Md Rabiul Islam et al. Clin Pathol. .

Abstract

The discovery of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant has sparked alarm globally because of its rapid rate of infection and trespassing acquired immunity due to vaccination or natural infection. This heavily mutated variant is rapidly spreading around the world. Infected individuals with the Omicron variant may suffer from flu-like symptoms, and infected with the Delta variant frequently report low oxygen levels, high pulse rates, and a loss of smell and taste. Also, the Omicron variant causes asymptomatic or mild disease so far, and not any severe illness as like Delta, and this new variant has a 15% to 80% reduced risk of hospitalization than the Delta variant. Scientists are worried about the possibility of escaping the immunity by the Omicron variants and subvariants among fully vaccinated and recovered COVID-19 patients. Two doses of available vaccines are found to be partially ineffective in protecting this new variant, therefore, the third dose as a booster is recommended to enhance antibody level. Moreover, some antiviral drugs significantly reduce hospitalization or death among mild to severe COVID-19 patients. All authorized antiviral drugs are effective against viral replication for most SARS-CoV-2 variants, and particularly some monoclonal antibodies may not now be effective in treating COVID-19 patients. There is an urgent need to update existing vaccines, develop more effective and newer vaccines as well as additional monoclonal antibodies to counter Omicron. Therefore, along with close monitoring of Omicron characteristics, the present study suggests that health safety guidelines, mass immunization, early diagnosis, and search for effective antiviral drugs should be the approaches to fight against newer SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Keywords: B.1.1.529; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Coronavirus; Omicron; SARS-COV-2 variants; SARS-CoV-2; antiviral agents.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Changes in viral spike protein and characteristics of coronavirus variants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Islam MR, Hossain MJ. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant has created panic among the people across the world: What should we do right now? J Med Virol. 2022;94:1768-1769. - PubMed
    1. Daria S, Bhuiyan MA, Islam MR. Detection of highly muted coronavirus variant omicron (B.1.1.529) is triggering the alarm for South Asian countries: Associated risk factors and preventive actions. J Med Virol. 2022;94:1267-1268. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rahman FI, Ether SA, Islam MR. Upsurge of dengue prevalence during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: pouring gasoline to fire. Clin Pathol. 2022;15:2632010X221076068. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rahman S, Hossain MJ, Islam MR. The upsurge of diarrhea amid COVID-19 pandemic makes matter worse in Bangladesh: a call to action. Gerontol Geriatr Med. 2022;8:23337214221117419. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jannath S, Sohan M, Rahman MA, Islam MR. Suicides among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Bangladeshi press reports. Open Health. 2022;3:13-19.

LinkOut - more resources