With inputs from Dr Monica Vasudev

Prevalence of BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants rising in the US

The prevalence of BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant is increasing in the United States. Together the two strains now constitute 13% of new infections compared to 7.5% in the previous week, as per latest CDC data. 7.6% are BA.5 and 5.4% are BA.4 cases. BA.2.12.1 is the predominant circulating strain at 62.2%, while BA.2 accounts for 24.8% of cases… (Source: Medscape, June 9, 2022).

Higher immune evading properties of  BA.4, and BA.5

The BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants show 4.2 times higher immune escape potential in persons who are fully vaccinated and also boosted vis-à-vis BA.2,  thereby increasing the chances of breakthrough infections. The immune escape potential was less with BA.2.12.1 (1.8-fold). Bebtelovimab was the only monoclonal antibody with robust activity against BA.4 and BA.5 and also BA.2.12.1… (Source: bioRxiv, May 26, 2022) 

Intrauterine exposure to SARS-CoV-2 increase risk of neurodevelopmental deficits in Infants

Babies born to Covid-positive mothers are at risk of neurodevelopmental deficits, according to preliminary results of a small study presented at the virtual meeting of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) 2022 Congress. At 6 weeks of age, the infants showed significantly low scores on the social interactive dimension of the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale (NBAS) if the mother became infected before 20 weeks of gestation…(Source: Medscape, June 8, 2022).

Covid-19 vaccine protect against severe outcomes in heart failure patients

Heart failure patients who are fully vaccinated and boosted as well are at lower risk of all-cause mortality with hazard ratio of 0.33 compared to those who were fully vaccinated but had not taken the booster dose (HR 0.36) and those who were unvaccinated. They also had a lower probability of hospitalization (incidence rate ratio 0.68) including ICU admission (IRR 0.63) than those who are partially vaccinated or unvaccinated … (Source: Journal of Cardiac Failure, June 9, 2022).