NMC Scientist Bette Korber Publishes in Nature Communications

NMC Scientist Bette Korber Publishes in Nature Communications

New Mexico Consortium (NMC) scientist Bette Korber, recently published her work Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.75 Clinical Isolates in Nature Communications.

One variant of COVID-19, the Omicron subvariant BA.2.75, quickly increased and spread  in India and Nepal during the summer of 2022, and spread globally.

This research by Korber and colleagues study the previously unknown virological features of BA.2.75, in order to learn more about this subvariant.  The scientists evaluated the ability of the BA.2.75 to replicate as well as the pathogenicity, or potential ability to produce disease, of BA.2.75 clinical isolates in Syrian hamsters.

What did they find? When infecting hamsters with BA.2, BA.5, or BA.2.75, they found no substantial differences in eight among the hamsters. The did find that BA.2.75s ability to replicate in the lungs is higher than that of BA.2 and BA.5. Also, BA.2.75 tended to cause focal viral pneumonia in hamsters, which is characterized by patchy inflammation interspersed in alveolar regions. This was is not observed in BA.5-infected hamsters. Last, the scientists found that BA.2.75 replicates better than BA.5 in the lungs of hamsters.

These results suggest that BA.2.75 can cause more severe respiratory disease than BA.5 and BA.2 in a hamster model and should be closely monitored.

To learn more read the entire publication at: Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.75 Clinical Isolates.