A recent study found that infection from the omicron variant of COVID-19 can decrease the likelihood that an individual will get reinfected with the delta variant.

The study, conducted by the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, also suggests that omicron could displace the delta variant as the dominant strain of COVID-19.

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"These results are consistent with Omicron displacing the Delta variant," the study said. "If so, then the incidence of Covid-19 severe disease would be reduced and the infection may shift to become less disruptive to individuals and society."

The findings about the potential disruption to society depend on how severe the omicron variant is compared to the delta variant. It said that there is emerging data that omicron is "less pathogenic" than delta.

The study found that omicron is often able to escape immunity from the delta variant. It also found that delta is less likely to escape the immunity from omicron.

It evaluated individuals who were infected with omicron — both vaccinated and unvaccinated. It found that omicron infection increased neutralization against reinfection of omicron by 14-fold and against the delta variant by 4.4-fold.

The study was led by Alex Sigal and Khadija Khan and included 15 participants. It has yet to be peer-reviewed, according to Bloomberg News. It has been cited by prominent U.S. medical officials such as Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration.


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The authors said that not all variants provide cross-neutralization. It said that infection from the delta and beta variants did not provide much immunity against the other.

The study also cautioned that it was difficult to know for sure if any of the participates had a prior infection, such as a delta infection, that may have skewed the results.

"Participants in this study have likely been previously infected, and more than half were vaccinated," it said. "Therefore, it is unclear if what we observe is effective cross-neutralization of Delta virus by Omicron elicited antibodies or activation of antibody immunity from previous infection and/or vaccination."