Omicron is here but nobody knows for sure where it came from. It was detected first by South African researchers from samples collected in southern Africa. More and more researchers are now devoted to demystifying the latest SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, as designated by the World Health Organization (WHO). A theory is gaining ground that Omicron might have a connection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in its origin.
South African researchers are studying the link between the origin of Omicron and HIV. A BBC report said the hypothesis tying Omicron to HIV is “highly plausible” citing South African research.
However, evidence is growing in volume that Omicron might have been in circulation much longer than thought till now. It was first detected around mid-November in Africa.
But it is possible that it might have originated in any other part of the world. The South African researchers just happened to crack its genome first.
It is also possible that Omicron took birth in an HIV patient, who either left her treatment mid-way or did not undergo medication at all.
READ | Omicron sweeps across US, now accounts for 73% of new Covid-19 cases
The BBC report talked about two possible cases of immense interest. One of them is of a woman who kept returning positive results for Covid-19 in tests for eight months. The virus, SARS-CoV-2, underwent 30 genetic shifts called mutations during his period.
It is already well-established now that persons with weakened or compromised immunity take longer to recover from Covid-19. This gives the virus more time to re-adjust itself to the human body functions over a wide range of biological activities.
Like any other living being, the virus wants to live longer and delay death. In the process, it feeds on the host’s body and reproduces as much as it can.
Reproduction happens through replication, a simple biological phenomenon through which a strand of virus makes a copy of itself. This happens within the confines of a cell human’s in the case of SARS-CoV-2, Omicron or its cousins Delta, Gamma, Beta and Alpha.
HIV can make a human body perfectly suitable for a SARS-CoV-2 mutation that can throw up Omicron-like new variants. People with other medical conditions such as diabetes or cancer are other potential platforms for the origin of new variants.
South Africa has the dubious distinction of being referred to as the HIV capital of the world. A UNAIDS report in 2020 said that one in five South Africans in the age group of 18-45 was infected by HIV. A bigger issue is that over 30 per cent of HIV-infected persons don’t undergo antiretroviral therapy. This medication restores immune system functionality in an HIV patient.
READ | Omicron spreading ‘significantly faster’ than Delta variant: WHO chief sounds alarm
Not taking antiretroviral therapy weakens the immune system of an HIV-infected person giving any virus including SARS-CoV-2 to re-equip itself for more successful survival.
Earlier this month, Medical News Today quoted a UK researcher from Cambridge University as saying, “The high prevalence of HIV in South Africa may have contributed to the evolution of the Omicron variant.”
“People living with HIV who control their virus are immunocompetent and are able to clear the virus like the rest of us.”
A normal healthy person’s immune system cleans the body of a virus in a few days to a couple of weeks. This does not happen with a person with HIV.
However, this disability is not limited to HIV infection only. Any medical condition that suppresses immunity in the human body leads to similar immunity disability.
The theory of Omicron’s connection with HIV gained currency from the research experience on Alpha variant. Dr Kemp’s team had found a large number of mutations in an immunocompromised patient they treated in the UK. These mutations had occurred over a relatively short time. This led us to the theory that the rapid spread of Alpha began with an immunocompromised individual.
To test the theory of HIV connection behind the origin of Omicron, a team of researchers in South Africa is producing an engineered version of HIV to use it as pseudovirus particle that matches the Omicron’s spike protein that has 32 mutations compared to the original strain of SARS-CoV-2. Its result may prove or disapprove of Omicron’s connection with HIV.
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