is that apparently because of the new configuration of the spikes, the change slightly alters where the viral particles have tended to "land" and the way they fold around (like jello strands), it can make it difficult for the immune cells to get to the viral spikes or virus body itself, then attach, and then start neutralizing it.
In general with these variants, they find cells that have certain "receptors" (ACE2) and then like velcro, the virus can attach to those locations, puncture the cell wall, and then inject their genetic material in it to start replicating.
A computer sim of the virus is here (you can see the "spikes" with the cluster of stuff at the end, which was from a Nature article here - https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02039-y) -
The fascinating illustration of how they attach and pull in to the cell -
The (landing) receptors are located all around the human body on some critical organs like the lungs (most common), heart, kidneys, and even along the neural, digestive, and circulatory systems. The entry points (nose/mouth) have quite a few so the virus can land there first and start reproducing, and then those child viral particles can move deeper into the body.
However what they are finding is that based on the changed configuration of the Omicron spikes, there have been some more favorable landing zones along the way to the lungs (bronchial tubes) that are not as deep inside them and that has apparently lessened the more immediate severe impacts in the lungs. I.e., they were finding that this version of the virus, if it makes it deeper inside the lungs, is apparently slower to find a place to land and reproduce.
December 15, 20217:15 PM ET
Michaeleen Doucleff 2016
Omicron is spreading lightning fast. In the U.S., the percentage of cases caused by this new coronavirus variant jumped seven times in just a week, from 0.4% of the total cases sequenced to 2.9%, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. And it's already causing about 13% of cases in a region that includes New York and New Jersey.
In a household, the risk of spreading the omicron variant to another member is three times higher than it is with the delta variant, U.K. health officials estimated Friday. And delta, as you may know, is considered highly transmissible. Why is omicron such a superspreading variant? Preliminary data, published online Wednesday, gives us the first look at how omicron may behave inside the respiratory tract — and the data offers a tantalizing clue as to why this heavily mutated variant is spreading so fast and even outcompeting delta.
The omicron variant multiplies about 70 times faster inside human respiratory tract tissue than the delta variant does, scientists at the University of Hong Kong report. The variant also reaches higher levels in the tissue, compared with delta, 48 hours after infection. "That's amazing," says immunologist Wilfredo Garcia-Beltran, who's a fellow at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital and wasn't involved in the study. This finding indicates that mutations in omicron have sped up the process of entering or replicating (or both) inside the tissue.
But how this finding, from tissue studied in the lab, relates to viral loads inside an actual person's respiratory tract is still unknown, he emphasizes. These findings from the University of Hong Kong haven't been peer reviewed — and the experiments occurred entirely inside cell tissue. Nonetheless, the research supports another study, published online Tuesday, from Garcia-Beltran and his colleagues that also suggests omicron is more infectious than delta.
(snip)
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/12/15/1064597592/a-tantalizing-clue-to-why-omicron-is-spreading-so-quickly
The research above was based on in vitro (in the lab) behavior of the virus with lung tissue and bronchial tissue vs actual observed behavior in vivo (in the body), but it gives some clues that can be further looked at.
One of the things that a number of not just viruses but bacteria can do, is configure themselves to make it harder for the various cells that make up our immune system (and there are a number of them) to find a place to attach to them and neutralize them.
In general the body has many actors that have certain roles when an infection occurs - some that react immediately and others that eventually adapt to help join the fight. It's like an army with various specialists.
In the above circle of entities to the left, you have the "first line of defense" that get triggered with an infection and then those seen in the circle to the right, are what make up the final attack response to an invader, and can be enhanced by vaccines.
(sorry I geeked out on you but as a former chemist, I couldn't help it
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