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Omicron’s feeble attack on the lungs could make it less dangerous

Mounting evidence from animal studies suggests that Omicron does not multiply readily in lung tissue, which can be badly damaged in people infected with other variants.
  1. Max Kozlov
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Early indications from South Africa and the United Kingdom signal that the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is less dangerous than its predecessor Delta. Now, a series of laboratory studies offers a tantalizing explanation for the difference: Omicron does not infect cells deep in the lung as readily as it does those in the upper airways.

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Nature 601, 177 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00007-8

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 06 January 2022: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described how Omicron enters cells. The story has now been corrected.

References

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  2. McMahan, K. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.02.474743 (2022).

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