Omicron｜The successful isolation of virus strains from Hong Kong University has an impact on health policies and vaccine research and development

Yuan Guoyong, Chair Professor of the Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, and his team announced yesterday (November 30) that they had successfully isolated the Omicron variant virus from clinical specimens.

Du Qihong, head of the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Hong Kong University, said that the team is also worried that the Omicron variant virus will become a "pandemic", but it is difficult to judge at this time and it will still take two to three weeks to obtain the results of the study to be sure.

He also believes that the relevant results will have a great impact on public health policies and future vaccine development and have reference value. If the new variant virus affects the effectiveness of the vaccine, there is a natural opportunity to tighten epidemic prevention measures.

Du Qihong, head of the Department of Microbiology, Hong Kong University, believes that the results of the team's research have great influence and reference value on public health policies and future vaccine development.

(Profile picture)

Isolating the virus strain helps to study the impact on the vaccine and it takes two to three weeks at the fastest

Du Qihong, head of the Department of Microbiology of the University of Hong Kong, said on a radio program this morning (1st) that the isolated virus strains can be used to study the impact of the virus on the public, including understanding the infectivity of the virus and its impact on vaccines. In the future, further studies can be made on the ability of the virus to invade cells. , Carry out animal experiments, and study the effectiveness of the current vaccine against the Omicron variant virus through the antibodies of the patient after infection. As for the relevant research, it will take two to three weeks at the earliest.

The picture shows the immunofluorescence image detection of the NP protein of the Omicron variant virus.

The left is the uninfected group; the middle and the right are the 48-hour infected group.

(Provided by HKU)

Du Qihong continued that the relevant results and data will be published in international literature. They are believed to have a great impact on public health policies and future vaccine development and have reference value. If the new variant virus affects the effectiveness of the vaccine, there is a natural opportunity to tighten epidemic prevention measures.

The team is worried about Omicron becoming a pandemic, but the results of the research are needed to judge

Du Qihong also pointed out that the team is also worried that the Omicron variant virus will become a "pandemic", but it is still difficult to judge. He believes that when a new variant virus first appears, the world will strengthen testing, so there are more cases in the early stage. As for whether the virus has become a The mainstream needs to obtain research results in the next two to three weeks to be sure.

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