(Reuters) – In vaccinated patients with breakthrough COVID-19 infections, the disease may not affect the lungs as much as in unvaccinated patients, new data from India suggest.
Doctors there studied 205 adults with confirmed COVID-19, more than half under age 50. Among those studied, 14% were fully vaccinated, 15% were partially vaccinated, and the rest were unvaccinated. All had computed tomography (CT) scans of their lungs.
Researchers scored each of the five lobes of each lung on a scale ranging from 0 for no virus involvement of the lobe, to 5, which meant more than 75% of the lobe was affected.
Out of a possible 25, the average lung CT severity score was 0 in fully vaccinated patients, 4 in partially vaccinated patients, and 11 in the unvaccinated group, according to a report posted on medRxiv ahead of peer review.
Study coauthor Dr. Jaimin Trivedi of the University of Louisville in Kentucky told Reuters the findings underscore “the fact that vaccination reduces the severity of the COVID-19 disease even though it may not prevent the infection in some patients.”
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3Citpgk medRxiv, online August 3, 2021.
Source: Read Full Article