"Being outdoors in the outside air absolutely pro
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Posted On: 07/20/2022 1:13:17 PM
"Being outdoors in the outside air absolutely protects us from less transmissible viruses," Sharon Nachman, MD, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children's Hospital, told Health. "But for something that's very efficient at spreading like BA.5 is, it won't be as protective."
Here, experts discuss just how contagious BA.5 is—and how you can go the extra step to protect yourself, even during outdoor activities this summer.
Omicron Infection Timeline: When Symptoms Start and How Long They Last
How Contagious Is BA.5?
BA.5 is just one of the latest subvariants to come from the original Omicron lineage, Michael Blaivas, MD, chief medical officer at Anavasi Diagnostics, told Health. All variants and subvariants have changes in their genetic code, compared to the original virus they came from.
According to Dr. Blaivas, it's helpful to think of these changes in BA.5 (and other variants that have outcompeted their predecessors) as "upgrades" to make them better fit to survive (aka, infect humans).
"The mutations of BA.5 impact its spike protein in part and result in some important 'upgrades' in the ability of the virus to infect humans more quickly and also attach to the lungs," Dr. Blaivas said. "These 'upgrades' in viral performance mean the virus can spread more quickly than prior variants."
BA.5's mutations have also allowed it to sneak past the body's immune system more easily. Even past infection or immunization don't offer quite as much protection as would be expected. According to an Epidemiological Update from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), "the current growth advantage for the BA.4 and BA.5 variants of concern…compared to the dominant variant BA.2 is probably due to their ability to evade immune protection against infection induced by prior infection and/or vaccination, particularly if this has waned over time." Overall, the ECDC said this makes more frequent breakthrough infections and reinfections possible with BA.4 and BA.5.
https://www.health.com/news/ba5-outdoor-trans...g=52665041
Here, experts discuss just how contagious BA.5 is—and how you can go the extra step to protect yourself, even during outdoor activities this summer.
Omicron Infection Timeline: When Symptoms Start and How Long They Last
How Contagious Is BA.5?
BA.5 is just one of the latest subvariants to come from the original Omicron lineage, Michael Blaivas, MD, chief medical officer at Anavasi Diagnostics, told Health. All variants and subvariants have changes in their genetic code, compared to the original virus they came from.
According to Dr. Blaivas, it's helpful to think of these changes in BA.5 (and other variants that have outcompeted their predecessors) as "upgrades" to make them better fit to survive (aka, infect humans).
"The mutations of BA.5 impact its spike protein in part and result in some important 'upgrades' in the ability of the virus to infect humans more quickly and also attach to the lungs," Dr. Blaivas said. "These 'upgrades' in viral performance mean the virus can spread more quickly than prior variants."
BA.5's mutations have also allowed it to sneak past the body's immune system more easily. Even past infection or immunization don't offer quite as much protection as would be expected. According to an Epidemiological Update from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), "the current growth advantage for the BA.4 and BA.5 variants of concern…compared to the dominant variant BA.2 is probably due to their ability to evade immune protection against infection induced by prior infection and/or vaccination, particularly if this has waned over time." Overall, the ECDC said this makes more frequent breakthrough infections and reinfections possible with BA.4 and BA.5.
https://www.health.com/news/ba5-outdoor-trans...g=52665041
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