The omicron coronavirus variant may protect against flu

In a laboratory study, the H1N1 seasonal flu virus didn’t take hold in bronchial cells containing the omicron coronavirus variant, but the flu virus did replicate in cells containing the delta variant

By Carissa Wong

Being infected with the omicron variant of the coronavirus may give some protection against flu.

Martin Michaelis at the University of Kent in the UK and his colleagues collected bronchial cells from a person with emphysema, a condition where the lungs’ air sacs are damaged, but the bronchi airways are unaffected.

The cells were extracted as part of a standard diagnostic or treatment procedure. With the bronchi being unaffected by emphysema, the …