Since SARS-CoV-2, the original virus that causes the novel coronavirus, emerged in March 2020, it has mutated into dozens of subspecies, most of which are closely related to their evolutionary “parents.” No change. But the new mutant strain that scientists are calling our attention to is almost as genetically different from the original “wild-type” strain Omicron, which was first detected in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019. there is
On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced A new strain of the virus, BA.2.86, was being tracked according to the World Health Organization (WHO). to add Added the strain to the list of “mutants under surveillance”. The variant originated in Israel, then Michigan, USA, three times in Denmark, and once in the UK, where it has its own publication. risk assessment.
With only six cases reported worldwide as of Friday, the variant, nicknamedpillowhas already spread to multiple continents, said Dr. T. Ryan Gregory, an evolutionary and genomic biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada.
“It’s unclear how big the impact will be. if Gregory told Salon, “While we have some immunity to serious illness from vaccines and past infections, the long-standing concern is the possibility of another ‘Omicron-like event’. Yes,” he told the salon. ‘An entirely different new subspecies will evolve there, causing a new global wave. “
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This new variant was not given the new Greek letter distinctions like alpha, delta and omicron, very different It comes from the latest Greek letter family of mutant descendants, Omicron. The virus shares about 30 of the same spike mutations that allow the virus to more easily attach to intracellular receptors, but it also has 30 of its own.
Specifically, the spike protein has about 57 mutations that may enhance its ability to cause infection, said Dr. Rajendram Rajinarayanan of the New York Institute of Technology campus in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Most variants have about 20 to 30 mutations, he added.
“This will definitely spread,” Rajinarayanan said in a telephone interview with the salon. “It had all the ingredients needed for a successful pedigree.”
“This will definitely spread. It had all the ingredients needed for a successful pedigree.”
Scientists stressed that the new subspecies is not yet alarming. However, the new coronavirus infection increasing internationallyand the number of cases in the United States returned to levels considered “high.” 610,000 new infections per day.This is more than three times the levels recorded about a month ago 185,000 per day, according to wastewater data used to estimate disease prevalence. However, this increase in cases is not yet due to new variants. Other closely related variants, such as EG.5 and XBB.1.16, constitute estimates. one-third of casesThe rest are caused by dozens of other variants, according to CDC data released on Friday.
That said, the only cases that have been identified are those severe enough to be detected in hospitals, so it is possible that there are additional, yet undetected, cases of this new variant, Pyrrola. there is.
“This is nothing to worry about, but it is a wake-up call for new sequencing,” Rajinarayanan said. “It’s not every day that variants like this appear.”
“This is a reminder that mutated species continue to evolve, and the more infected people are, the more they will evolve.”
Overall, testing and sequencing to detect new strains has declined since the WHO and US lifted the pandemic emergency declaration. Given the very small number of confirmed cases, it is too early to tell whether this new variant will manifest differently in terms of symptoms or disease severity. But current boosters are likely to continue to work, at least for serious illnesses.
Pyrrola is derived from the SARS-CoV-2 lineage that circulated more than a year ago, but hasn’t made much news since. But on the other hand, the emergence of BA.2.86 indicates that BA.2.86 is indeed evolving on its own, says Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D., professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. said. Rajinarayanan added that it is likely that the virus mutated multiple times in one chronically ill patient.
“We’ve detected a lot of immune escape mutations that our immune system hasn’t discovered yet,” Johnson said in a telephone interview with Salon.
Scientists still have a lot of unknowns about this new variant, but what we do know is that the same pandemic protocols used to prevent the spread of the disease work equally well for all variants, and this new variant He emphasized that the mutant strain is the best way to prevent infection. Next Omicron. Continuing masks, testing and vaccinations are all important.
“I hope this doesn’t turn out to be an ‘Omicron-like event,’ but it’s a reminder that the variants continue to evolve, and that the more people infected, the more they will evolve,” Gregory said. Told. “As always, the key here is to use vat resistance measures such as respirators, ventilation and air filtration, and to reduce infection by avoiding exposure as much as possible.”