Ren SY, Wang WB, Gao RD, Zhou AM. Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) of SARS-CoV-2: Mutation, infectivity, transmission, and vaccine resistance. World J Clin Cases 2022; 10(1): 1-11 [PMID: 35071500 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i1.1]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Shi-Yan Ren, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Surgeon, Laser Vascular Surgery, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University, No. 2 Beiyuan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 10012, China. rens66@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Shi-Yan Ren, Rong-Ding Gao, Laser Vascular Surgery, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University, Beijing 10012, China
Wen-Biao Wang, Department of Stomatology, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University, Beijing 100012, China
Ai-Mei Zhou, Department of General Surgery, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University, Beijing 10012, China
Author contributions: Ren SY searched the references, designed, composed, revised and submitted the manuscript; Wang WB, Gao RD, and Zhou AM searched the references, designed and discussed the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shi-Yan Ren, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Surgeon, Laser Vascular Surgery, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University, No. 2 Beiyuan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 10012, China. rens66@126.com
Received: December 8, 2021 Peer-review started: December 8, 2021 First decision: December 13, 2021 Revised: December 16, 2021 Accepted: December 24, 2021 Article in press: December 24, 2021 Published online: January 7, 2022 Processing time: 21 Days and 17.7 Hours
Abstract
The appearance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) has caused panic responses around the world because of its high transmission rate and number of mutations. This review summarizes the highly mutated regions, the essential infectivity, transmission, vaccine breakthrough and antibody resistance of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. The Omicron is highly transmissible and is spreading faster than any previous variant, but may cause less severe symptoms than previous variants. The Omicron is able to escape the immune system’s defenses and coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines are less effective against the Omicron variant. Early careful preventive steps including vaccination will always be key for the suppression of the Omicron variant.
Core Tip: The Omicron variant is highly transmissible and is spreading faster than any previous variant, but causes less severe symptoms than previous variants. The Omicron is able to escape the immune system’s defenses and coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines are less effective against the Omicron variant. Early careful preventive steps including vaccination will be the key to the suppression of the Omicron variant.
