Omicron SARS-CoV-2 Variant in Asthmatic Patients

Editorial

Asthma is one of the chronic lung diseases that cause shortness of breath and suffocation in the airways due to involvement of the airways that causes many problems in the affected person by reducing oxygen supply to the body. One of the main causes of asthma is allergens, which environmental allergens cause disease in people with susceptibility to asthma. Common therapies available do not have the ability to definitively treat asthma and improve breathing by removing airway obstruction [1].

Since the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the pathogen had multiple mutations and various variants were produced, and due to vaccination coverage, mutations and new variants in the virus are observed. The recent variant that is called Omicron variant. There are major differences between the omicron and other variants of the coronavirus. The omicron coronavirus variant has fast replication in the airways and slows down in the lungs. Compared to the delta variant, the omicron variant replicates 10s times faster in the airways and facilitates spread between individuals, but it replicates ten times more slowly in the lung tissues and is highly contagious overall [2,3].

Of course, the severity of the pathogenesis is not determined only by the multiplication of the virus, but is the basis of the response of each individual’s immune system, which in some cases becomes a respiratory inflammation and life-threatening. Evidence shows that the omicron variant has the ability to evade the immune response from existing vaccines and therefore the risk is very serious [4]. Due to the fact that asthma affects the airways and on the other hand, the omicron variant is more abundant in the airways, so it is very important to follow the safety protocols against coronavirus and immunization of asthmatics and it is recommended that the items announced by the Ministry of Health and WHO should be noted. Also, due to its location in the cold season, the use of the mask can not only be a protection for asthmatic people against the corona virus, but also against respiratory viruses and to prevent air pollution to some extent. It also prevents airway irritation and asthma attacks by keeping the breath warm.

References

1. Athari SS. Targeting cell signaling in allergic asthma. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2019; 4: 45.
2. Stampfer SD, Goldwater MS, Bujarski S, Regidor B, Zhang W, Feinstein AJ, et al. Severe breakthrough COVID-19 with a heavily mutated variant in a multiple myeloma patient 10 weeks after vaccination. Clin Infect Pract. 2022; 13: 100130.
3. Kannan SR, Spratt AN, Sharma K, Chand HS, Byrareddy SN, Singh K. Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant: Unique features and their impact on preexisting antibodies. J Autoimmun. 2022; 126: 102779.
4. Mohiuddin M, Kasahara K. Investigating the aggressiveness of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and suggestions for possible treatment options. Respir Med. 2022; 191: 106716.