Contracting the delta version would double the risk of hospitalization compared to the alpha version

People who contract the delta version of COVID-19 are twice as likely to be hospitalized as those who catch the alpha version, According to a British studyI. Scientists from the University of Cambridge and Public Health England, who led the study, said in a statement on Friday 27 August that the delta variant may constitute “more burden”. “Important to health services compared to the alpha version” especially in uninsured individuals and other vulnerable populations.

articles published in medical journals lancet infectious disease On Friday, analyzed 43,340 cases of Covid-19. About 74% of cases involved unvaccinated people, while less than 2% involved people who were fully vaccinated. The rest were partially vaccinated.

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The delta variant is more virulent and increases the risk of hospitalization

Overall, more than 2% of people who contracted COVID-19 were hospitalized within 14 days of testing positive. The researchers found that the risk of hospitalization was 2.26 times higher for those who caught the delta version than for the alpha version. They took into account factors that may influence a person’s propensity to develop severe COVID-19, such as age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic factors. Medical history was not considered for the study.

The findings of the analysis relate to the risks posed by illiterate and partially vaccinated people. The authors said they were unable to draw definitive conclusions about an increased risk of hospitalization among vaccinated people because not enough vaccinated people were hospitalized during the study period.

Other research has shown that fully vaccinated people have stronger immunity and avoid severe forms, even if they get the delta variant. The latter is at least 50% more contagious than the alpha version, which overwhelmed UK hospitals over Christmas, and has additional mutations that help it bypass the immune response.

The study is the largest ever and the first to examine a virus’s genetic code in the laboratory to identify a variant: the most accurate technique yet. The Delta version was revealed in the UK in March and became the major version in June. The proportion of trials that identified the delta variant increased from 20% to 74% during the study period, which ran from March 29 to May 23, its authors said. In total, scientists from the University of Cambridge investigated 8,682 cases of Delta and 34,656 cases of Alpha.

The study confirms earlier data collected in Scotland in June showing that the delta variant has an increased risk of hospitalization compared to the alpha. Scottish researchers used a surrogate measure to determine which variant caused COVID-19.

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Vaccines are ‘essential’

Dr. Anne Presanis, one of the study’s lead authors, said in a statement Friday that full vaccination was “crucial” to protect ourselves from the delta variant. “Also to reduce the risk of symptomatic infection and especially to reduce the risk of severe illness and hospitalization of an affected patient,” she said. Dr. David Strain, Clinical Lecturer at the University of Exetersaid in a statement to the Science Media Center on Friday that the study confirmed “what it was looking for in clinical practice.” David Strain did not participate in the study.

“In addition to being more infectious and virulent than the first strain of Covid-19 or the alpha variant, the delta variant also causes more severe diseases in populations that previously suffered from only mild infections”, they announced.

Original Version: Dr. Katherine Schuster-Bruce/Business Insider

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