Why Delta is the deadliest COVID variant?
Premium- Five different Covid variants were chosen and scientists studied how the human immune system responded to them
- The variants included Alpha, Delta, and three others that emerged before Alpha
Of all the COVID variants, Delta is the deadliest one, a new study has revealed. Five different coronavirus variants were studied for the research that include Alpha, Delta, and three others that emerged before Alpha.
The scientists tried to understand if hosts, that is, humans infected by the virus, react differently to different SARS-CoV-2 variants, it said adding, “In the last almost three years, there have been many SARS-CoV-2 variants spreading across the world. But their outcome has varied greatly, with the Delta variant being the deadliest."
The study has been published in Microbiology Spectrum journal.
Why Delta variant is most dangerous COVID variant?
Explaining this, the researchers said, the immune system could not produce the defence molecules against the Delta variant as effectively as the other variants. While infection due to the other four variants alerted the immune system quickly, the Delta variant could silently replicate in the host cells.
“We have identified that molecular mechanisms regulating the host immune response have not been as potent against the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. This also includes the production of interferons, immune molecules often used for antiviral therapies. The study hints at why the Delta variant could spread more easily," said Dr. Krishnan Harshan, the lead investigator in this work.
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