Reply to Kao and Liaw

Ochoa, Valeria; Díaz, Fernando Erra; Ramirez, Ezequiel; Fentini, María Clara; Carobene, Mauricio; Geffner, Jorge; Arruvito, Lourdes; Lenicov, Federico Remes

doi:10.1093/infdis/jiac081

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Previous studies suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 viral load tends to be higher in young children than in adults, whereas other data suggest that the viral load does not vary by age group [29][30][31][32][33]. In this study, no obvious differences in viral load by age group were observed for either the Omicron BA.1.1 or BA.2 sublineages.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 71%

See 1 more Smart Citation

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineage BA.2 replaces BA.1.1: genomic surveillance in Japan from September 2021 to March 2022

Hirotsu

Maejima

Shibusawa

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectiveThe new emerging Omicron strain of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is currently spreading worldwide. We aimed to analyze the genomic evolution of the shifting Omicron virus subtypes.MethodsThe study included 1,297 individuals diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 positive by PCR test or antigen quantification test from September 2021 to March 2022. Samples were analyzed by whole genome sequencing analysis (n=489) or TaqMan assay (n=808).ResultsAfter the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta strain, the Omicron strain spread rapidly in Yamanashi, Japan. BA.1.1 was the predominant sublineage of the Omicron strain from January to mid-February 2022, but the number of cases of sublineage BA.2 began to increase after mid-February, and this sublineage was shown to have replaced BA.1.1 by the end of March 2022. We observed higher viral and antigen levels of sublineage BA.2 than of sublineage BA.1.1 in nasopharyngeal swab samples. However, no difference in viral load by patient age was apparent between sublineages BA.1.1 and BA.2.ConclusionsA transition from sublineage BA.1.1 to sublineage BA.2 was clearly observed over approximately one month. Omicron sublineage BA.2 was found to be more transmissible owing to its higher viral load regardless of patient age.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 71%

“…The relationship between age and SARS-CoV-2 viral load of other strains was shown previously [29][30][31][32][33]; however, no data on Omicron sublineages were reported.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%