Omicron variant of SARS-Cov2 as a flu? Not really. “This would only be true if everyone was vaccinated.” This is demonstrated by the statistics on the lethality of Covid downstream of the vaccination campaign and in light of the lower severity of Omicron calculated by Matteo Villa, researcher ofISPI, Institute for International Political Studies. “The difference today is not so much the different viruses, but the diffusion of vaccines. In the category of people over 65, the Delta variant kills 5.4 out of 100 infected if not immunized. Omicron is less severe, with a rate of 2.2%, still among the unvaccinated. If, on the other hand, we look at those who have undergone the two doses, Delta, Omicron and influenza become similar diseases, with a lethality of around 0.4-0.5%. In the general population, including young people, the lethality of influenza and Covid among vaccinated people varies between 0.04% and 0.12%. “
The differences
However, simplifying Covid to simple flu is a gamble since the two infections are different from a biological point of view. The coronavirus is capable of leaving aftermath various organs and the T cell, killer cells of our immune system, which were able to recognize previous variants of the virus, also recognize the Omicron variant. This is what the center of Harvard Virology and Vaccine Research in Boston, Massachusetts.
“The emerging image is that the new Covid variants remain highly susceptible to the T-cell immune response,” he says. Dan Barouch, director of the research center at Harvard “This also includes the Omicron variant.”
In vitro studies have shown that theproliferative activity of T cells it is significantly reduced in patients with COVID-19 and can be restored through the integration of L-arginine.
Jean-Marc Tadie and his collaborators from the Infectious Diseases and Intensive Care Unit of the University Hospital of Pontchaillou, have shown that in patients with severe forms of COVID-19 the syndrome of acute respiratory distress has a large number of cells which suppress T lymphocytes of myeloid derivation, which is directly related to an enhanced activity ofarginase, enzyme that determines a depletion of L-arginine from the microenvironment.
The effects of L-arginine on T lymphocytes can be of great importance
Even a prestigious one affirms it Italian-American clinical study conducted by the Cotugno Hospital in Naples, in collaboration with the Federico II University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, published in the free access newspaper of The Lancet (EclinicalMedicine).
The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, which in its interim analysis resulted in the enrollment of 100 patients, showed that after 10 days from the start of administration, treatment with two vials a day of Bioarginine ® (each containing 1.66 grams of salt-free L-arginine) determine a reduction of respiratory support in over 70% of treated patients, with a marked improvement in respiratory function.
This also resulted in a reduction in hospitalization times: 25 days compared to 46 of hospitalization mean of patients on placebo.
“The shortened stay in hospital also means less exposure to further infections” – continues Professor Fiorentino – “since L-Arginine acts both on immune response that inflammatory.”
In addition, the benefits in improving endothelial function have been shown positive aspects even in the long term, in subjects affected by Long Covid.
“We noticed that among the patients who had taken L-Arginine, even theasthenia was markedly reduced.”
The demonstration, albeit preliminary given that the study is still ongoing, that two vials a day of Bioarginina® orally in addition to standard therapy in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 can significantly improve the course of the COVID-19 disease is of particular importance given the scarcity of treatments available in this type of patients and represents a new frontier for a better management of COVID-19 patients based on a solid pathophysiological rationale.