Department of Law, Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Piaggia Dell'Università, 2, 62100, Macerata, Italy.
Diagn Pathol. 2023 Feb 10;18(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s13000-023-01306-y.
Pulmonary damage in SARS-CoV-2 is characterized pathologically by diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) and thrombosis. In addition, nosocomial bacterial superinfections and ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) are likely to occur. The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant have manifested itself as a more diffusive virus which mainly affects the upper airways, such as the nose and pharynx. The mechanism leading to a lung injury with a complex clinical course for the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant remains unclear. A key question is whether the organ damage is due to direct organ targeting of the virus or downstream effects such as an altered immune response. An immune escape process of Omicron variant is being studied, which could lead to prolonged viral shedding and increase hospitalization times in patients with comorbidities, with an increased risk of pulmonary co-infections/superinfections and organ damage. This brief commentary reports the current knowledge on the Omicron variant and provides some useful suggestions to the scientific community.
SARS-CoV-2 引起的肺部损伤在病理学上表现为弥漫性肺泡损伤（DAD）和血栓形成。此外，医院获得性细菌合并感染和呼吸机相关性肺损伤（VILI）也可能发生。SARS-CoV-2 的奥密克戎变体表现为一种更具扩散性的病毒，主要影响上呼吸道，如鼻子和喉咙。奥密克戎 SARS-CoV-2 变体导致复杂临床病程的肺损伤的机制尚不清楚。一个关键问题是器官损伤是由于病毒直接靶向器官还是下游效应，如改变的免疫反应。目前正在研究奥密克戎变体的免疫逃逸过程，这可能导致病毒脱落时间延长，合并症患者住院时间延长，肺部合并感染/继发感染和器官损伤的风险增加。本简要评论报告了奥密克戎变体的现有知识，并为科学界提供了一些有用的建议。
