SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron variants in Bangladesh: Pandemic to endemic

• Published in: Health science reports Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. e1134 - n/a
• Main Authors: Jubair, Mohammad, Begum, Mst. Noorjahan, Rahman, Sezanur, Haider, Sourav Mohammad Arefeen, Moon, Shovan B., Hossain, Mohammad Enayet, Rahman, Mohammed Ziaur, Khan, Manjur H., Alam, Ahmed N., Shirin, Tahmina, Afrad, Mokibul H., Qadri, Firdausi, Rahman, Mustafizur
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.03.2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Asymptomatic; Comorbidity; Coronaviruses; COVID-19 diagnostic tests; COVID-19 vaccines; COVID‐19; Diabetes; Disease; Funding; Headaches; Hypertension; Infections; Omicron; Pandemics; protection; reinfection; Research Letter; SARS‐CoV‐2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Supervision; Writing; XBB; Bangladesh; XBB; reinfection; protection; Omicron; COVID‐19; SARS‐CoV‐2
• ISSN: 2398-8835; 2398-8835
• DOI: 10.1002/hsr2.1134

The moderate, severe, or asymptomatic diseases were determined according to the classification of World Health Organization and Bangladesh national guideline on COVID-19 case management. 6,7 The individuals who had hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic cardiac disease, tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease (IHD), asthma, malignant disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), immunodeficiency including HIV, chronic liver disease (CLD), chronic neurological disorder, and other comorbidity, if any, were considered as comorbid. Variables BA.1 (N = 81), n (%) BA.2 (N = 290), n (%) BA.5 (N = 63), n (%) XBB (N = 32), n (%) p Value Age groups (years) <5 0 (0%) 11 (4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) - 5–17 7 (9%) 16 (6%) 4 (6%) 1 (3%) 0.658 18–30 20 (25%) 67 (23%) 31 (49%) 3 (9%) <0.001 31–40 17 (21%) 66 (23%) 16 (25%) 10 (31%) 0.666 41–50 11 (14%) 44 (15%) 6 (10%) 10 (31%) 0.043 51–60 16 (20%) 41 (14%) 3 (5%) 4 (13%) 0.077 >60 10 (12%) 45 (16%) 3 (5%) 4 (13%) 0.151 Sex Male 44 (54%) 162 (56%) 35 (56%) 18 (56%) 0.995 Female 37 (46%) 128 (44%) 28 (44%) 14 (44%) 0.995 Disease severity Severe 3 (4%) 11 (4%) 3 (5%) 6 (19%) <0.001 Mild to moderate 78 (96%) 279 (96%) 52 (82%) 25 (78%) <0.001 Asymptomatic 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 8 (13%) 1 (3%) - Symptoms Fever 63 (78%) 189 (65%) 44 (70%) 21 (66%) 0.213 Cough 47 (58%) 155 (53%) 31 (49%) 16 (50%) 0.137 Headache 12 (15%) 39 (13%) 18 (29%) 14 (44%) 0.007 Body ache 6 (7%) 11 (4%) 15 (24%) 13 (41%) <0.001 Runny nose 25 (31%) 92 (32%) 12 (19%) 12 (37%) 0.116 Weakness 17 (21%) 24 (8%) 17 (27%) 12 (37%) <0.001 Comorbidity Comorbidity present 30 (37%) 84 (29%) 18 (29%) 17 (53%) 0.802 Hypertension 19 (63%) 40 (48%) 7 (39%) 7 (41%) 0.480 Diabetes 15 (50%) 35 (42%) 4 (22%) 1 (17%) 0.059 Hypertension and diabetes 9 (30%) 20 (24%) 2 (11%) 3 (14%) 0.497 Vaccination Fully vaccinated with booster 11 (14%) 37 (13%) 15 (24%) 21 (66%) <0.001 Fully vaccinated 61 (75%) 204 (70%) 39 (62%) 8 (25%) <0.001 No vaccine 9 (11%) 49 (17%) 6 (10%) 3 (9%) 0.237 Other meta-data Hospitalized 3 (4%) 11 (4%) 3 (5%) 6 (19%) 0.025 Deaths 0 (0%) 8 (3%) 0 (0%) 3 (9%) - Travel history 1 (1%) 12 (4%) 1 (2%) 4 (13%) 0.111 Reinfection 7 (9%) 23 (8%) 22 (35%) 15 (47%) <0.001 Note: Bold values indicate statistical significant values between the variables. Molecular evidence of reinfection from previous studies indicated that genetically distinct strains or new variants could escape immunity. 8–10 To combat the pandemic, the Bangladesh government started mass COVID-19 vaccination in February 2021, and till now, 75% population completed the full dose and 86% of at least one dose. 11 This reflects the countrywide COVID hospitalization scenario where most of the beds were vacant during the Omicron wave. 12,13 Although the overall severity of the Omicron variant was low, when compared among the Omicron sublineages, hospitalizations and deaths were higher for XBB infections, while the number of positive cases was lower compared to other Omicron sublineages. [...]our study illustrated how new variants outcompeted the previous ones and impacted by vaccination or natural infection.