The delta variant is considered highly contagious, but is it also more dangerous to infect?
British researchers have now investigated the risk of a serious course of the disease for the first time.
Cambridge - The Delta variant is causing the number of infections in Europe and also in Germany to skyrocket.
Studies show that Delta is highly contagious.
Researchers have even looked into the question in which situations and when the risk of infection is particularly high.
That's how dangerous the Delta variant is
The corona mutation is apparently more dangerous for infected people, and the course of the disease is more severe.
The risk of ending up in hospital with a corona infection is twice as high with the delta variant (B.1.617.2) than with the alpha variant (B.1.1.7).
This is the result of a British study that was published in the journal
Lancet Infectious Diseases
.
A team of scientists from Cambridge University and the Public Health England authority evaluated more than 40,000 corona cases in England between the end of March and the end of May 2021.
Particularly unvaccinated people who are infected with the Delta variant *, according to the study, have to be treated in hospital.
The data do not allow any conclusions to be drawn for fully vaccinated persons.
Delta or Alpha: Which Coronavirus Infection Is More Dangerous?
The scientists now used the results of tens of thousands of positive tests that had been assigned to delta or alpha by means of genetic analyzes.
Almost 9,000 went back to Delta, around 35,000 to Alpha.
In relation to this, the researchers looked at the number of hospital admissions.
After adjusting the data for factors such as age and demographics, which usually increase the risk of developing serious illness, they found that infected with Delta had a mean 2.26-fold higher risk of hospitalization within two weeks of the test fixed.
The risk of having to go to an emergency room or be admitted to the hospital within 14 days was therefore 1.45 times higher with Delta than with Alpha.
Researcher: Corona vaccines provide effective protection
Of the more than 40,000 cases examined in the study, only 1.8 percent were fully vaccinated, which the researchers interpret as further confirmation that the vaccines are very effective. 74 percent of the infected people considered were unvaccinated, 24 percent only partially vaccinated, i.e. with only one vaccination dose. Because of the limited amount of data available for this, the researchers are unable to make any statements as to whether there is a higher risk of serious illness in vaccinated persons as well.
"Our analysis shows that delta outbreaks without vaccination represent a significantly greater burden on the health system than an alpha epidemic," said one of the study authors, Anne Presanis of Cambridge University.
"Getting fully vaccinated is critical to reducing your risk of symptomatic infection and lowering your risk of developing severe delta infection and admission to hospital."
No data on previous illnesses
The authors cite the weaknesses of their study that they did not have any data on the previous illnesses of their patients.
It is also possible that the rules for hospital admissions have changed during the trial period.
The researchers at least tried to minimize these factors in their calculations as much as possible.
The delta variant, which was initially proven in India, is now the dominant one in many countries such as Great Britain and Germany. Experts anticipate that it will largely displace other variants worldwide - unless an even more contagious one spreads. Delta was first detected in England in March. Corona researchers in several countries are concerned about another mutation in the delta variant. It is a sub-variant called "AY.3".
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