The evolving coronavirus has spawned another super-contagious Omicron mutant that worries scientists as it gains traction in India and appears in many other countries, including the United States.
Scientists say the variant, called BA. 2. 75, would possibly spread temporarily and circumvent immunity to vaccines and past infections. It’s unclear whether it can also cause more serious illness than other variants of Omicron, adding the world-renowned BA. 5.
“It’s still too early for us to draw too many conclusions,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “But it turns out that, especially in India, transmission rates seem to be exponential. “increase. “
It remains to be noted that it will surpass BA. 5, he said.
Still, the fact that it has already been detected in many parts of the world, even with lower levels of viral surveillance “is an early indication that it is spreading,” said Shishi Luo, head of infectious diseases at Helix, a company that supplies viral sequencing. information to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. USA
The newest mutant has been in several remote states of India and appears to be spreading there faster than other variants, said Lipi Thukral, a scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi. it has been detected in a dozen other countries, in addition to Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada. Two cases were recently reported on the West Coast of the United States and Helix learned of a third case in the U. S. UU. la last week.
Experts’ considerations are based on a large number of mutations that separate this new variant from Omicron’s predecessors. Some of those mutations are found in spaces similar to the spike protein and may allow the virus to better bind to cells, Binnicker said.
Another fear is that genetic modifications could cause the virus to pass through antibodies, protective proteins produced through the frame in reaction to a vaccine or infection with an earlier variant.
But experts say vaccines and boosters remain the most productive defense against severe COVID-19. In the fall, the U. S. will most likely be able to. . . The U. S. Department of Homeland Security for the U. S. see updated vaccine formulations in progress that target newer strains of Omicron.
“Some might say, ‘Well, the vaccination and the booster didn’t stop other people from getting infected. ‘And yes, it’s true,” he said. But what he noticed is that the rate of other people ending up in the hospital and dying has dropped dramatically. As more and more people have been vaccinated, strengthened or infected naturally, we are starting to see background immunity levels around the global escalation. “
It could take several weeks to know if the newer Omicron mutant can follow the trajectory of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Dr. Gagandeep Kang, who studies viruses at India’s Christian Medical College in Vellore, said developing fear about the variant underscores the need for more sustained efforts to track and hint at viruses that combine genetic efforts with real-world data about who has health problems and how health problems. “It’s vital that surveillance is not a start-and-stop strategy,” he said.
Luo said BA. 2. 75 is a reminder that the coronavirus is continuously evolving and spreading.
“We would like to go back to pre-pandemic life, but we still have to be careful,” he said. “We have to settle for that, now we are living with a higher point of threat than before. “
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