OÖN: What exactly does “contamination” mean?
Girschikofsky: Contamination is a medical term that describes the proportion of those who currently have or have had a particular disease. There is a particularly high level of infection in the population, for example, with the viruses of the herpes group, which have around 90 percent in the body.
Is Contamination Something To Go For?
That depends on what the virus is up to. If it is a herpes virus that keeps causing symptoms, it is less good for those affected. If it is a virus, whereas after infection there is immunity, infection is good. We do not yet know whether it is also good with Sars-Cov-2. For example, if the Omikron variant reaches a contamination rate of 70 to 80 percent, we do not know whether that will be of any lasting benefit. We have to let that happen to us.
Why not?
Another variant could then develop and there is then again no immunity to a new variant. In addition, it is not known how long the antibodies of a variant last. Omicron contamination may bring us a more pleasant spring and a more relaxed summer, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be another lockdown in the fall. That’s why I think it’s important for the government to stick to mandatory vaccinations. Because when many fall ill, the overburdening of the hospitals becomes an issue again. So we don’t know yet whether Omikron will be the grand finale or another episode.
So a possible contamination only relates to one variant?
Yes, the antibodies do not work to the same extent against other variants. Many have been infected several times with different variants. How and how long there is immunity is open for all variants. That is why the uncertainty is so great, unfortunately there is still a lot that is not known.
Source: Nachrichten
