There is a new version of Ómicron that is already circulating in Portugal, but it does not seem to be more severe | coronavirus
There is a subset of Ómicron, a variant of SARS-CoV-2 that is known to be highly contagious, spreading in Asia and Europe and which cases could be prolonging into a veritable wave of infections in many countries. The World Health Organization (WHO has already recommended to national authorities) that they begin to investigate and characterize it to see if it represents a danger for countries already harassed by Ómicron.
Portugal has also already detected cases of this lineage, which, in part, seems to be reducing the number of cases associated with the “original” Ómicron, but the Instituto Doutor Ricardo Jorge (Insa) says that it is still not possible to know its weight in the total number. cases.
Recognized as the BA.2 lineage, this lineage is descended from the Organ variant, which the scientific community has dubbed BA.1 and which has been and continues to be responsible for the massive growth in cases worldwide since late 2021.
“The circulation of the BA.2 lineage, which differs from some of the BA.2 species, including in the protein Thorn [proteína da espícula, em português], is increasing in many countries,” wrote the WHO on its page this Monday. “Virulities on the characteristics of BA.2, including immune-escape properties, should be a priority.”
In more than 40 countries
BA.2 was first identified in India and South Africa in late December. It is a subvariant and believed to have arisen from a transformation that was also born from Ómicron, from a Delta variant. Other strains, such as BA.3 or BB.2, have already been identified, but BA2 has attracted the attention of epidemiologists due to the dramatic increase in cases of people contracting the infection associated with this strain.
In particular, both descend from the ancestral lineage B.1.529 and have an “excess” of origin1 in the protein. Thorn (it’s the virus penetrating human cells and people), and many people are the ones that are essential. But unlike BA.1, BA.2 has a “failure” in the detection of the S gene (SGTF), which is one of the cases not used by laboratories to identify suspected cases of the Ómicron variant and to distinguish from cases associated with Delta. , for example.
For now, there is evidence that BA.2 is more difficult than BA.2, that it spreads faster or that it can escape it better than BA.1, but appears to be more virulent in technique. “We know that Ómicro can more easily escape the pre-existence of vaccines and exposure to other variants of the virus. What still doesn’t know worse is whether Ómicron’s daughter does it better or than Ómicron. That’s the open question,” he told the The Washington Post James Musser, director of the Center for Infectious Human Diseases at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, USA.
The lineage has already been chosen countries, in at least 43 countries, such as France, Sweden, India, Germany, Australia, United States, Germany in the United Kingdom and Denmark, where it had a particular one.
In Denmark, daily number rise again, the dinars that started to reach peaks of covid-19 cases that started to reach a number of current cases that already started by the micron era. “The Danish authorities have no explanation for this phenomenon, but the situation is being closely monitored.
In the country, the lineage was responsible for 20% of cases in the week of 2021, the last week that rose to 45% in the second week of 2022 and to 65% in the week. On the contrary, the proportion of cases is associated with declining Ómicro. Anders Fomsgaard, a researcher at the Danish Statens Serum Institute (SSI), said there was still no good explanation for the rapid growth of sublineage, adding that he was intrigued but not worried.
“It may be that it is more resistant to the immunity of the population, which allows it to infect more. I still don’t know,” he said, quoted by Reuters, adding that there is a possibility of people infected with BA. “It is a possibility and, in this case, we must be prepared for it. If that’s going to happen, it’s going to happen at two peaks of this epidemic.
good news as seen The initials of SSI is not the difference between BA.2 and BA.1 when it comes to hospitalizations for covid19. “We’re not worried because now we don’t see huge differences in distribution and no risk of hospitalization.”
The UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) said this week that BA.2, under investigation in the country, claims it could have a “growth advantage”. “It is the nature of viruses to evolve and they will change, so it is to be expected that we will continue to operate as they undergo further changes. Our ongoing genomic surveillance allows us to detect them and assess whether they are important,” Meera Chand, director of the incident department at the UKHSA, told Reuters.
The UK added 426 cases of BA.2 in the first few days of January and the UKHSA said that despite growing uncertainties about the significance of the viral genome, the analysis showed that the initial changes were a unique growth rate for Ómicron.
WHO no bloodlines
The World Health Organization, which classified it as “omega of the community, is highlighted by the health organization”. There is still no concrete data on possible resistance to vaccines against covid-19 or on whether, contrary to what happens with the Ómicron line, staging could cause more serious forms of the disease.
Vir Tom Peacock of Imperial College London was developed from “initial observations made in India and Denmark very much that do not show drastic lineage differences compared to BA.1”: “These should become more concrete in the coming weeks, but minor differences in the BA.1 and BA.2 vaccine solution are likely. Personally, I’m not sure that BA.2 will have a substantial impact on Ómicron’s current wave of the pandemic.”
“Several countries are very close and some have already determined the peak of the vacancy associated with BA.1. I would be very surprised if BA.2se a second wave at this point. Even with a lower transmissibility, it will not be able to cause an absolute change as happened with Delta and Ómicron. Instead, this growth may be slower and more subtle.” explanation via Twitter.
BA.1 decreases, BA.2 grows
The Ómicron variant was responsible, at the beginning of January, for 93% of entries in Portugal, but since then a decrease in the proportion of positive origin of this estimate has been selected. according to situation report on the genetic diversity of the novel coronavirus in Portugal, from January, the maximum estimated 93% proportion variant between the 7th and 9th of 2022.
The BA.2 lineage was first produced at the turn of 2022. Although the number of cases increased from 0.2% to 0.7%) between 3 to 9 January 2022, the community circulation to have been probably in these first two weeks of January, explains these first two weeks of January.
In a written reply sent to PÚBL, Insa explains that, in contrast to the BA.1,2 line, it does not have a specific determination in the protein Thorn, so there is no “failure” in the detection of the S gene with one of the kits of diagnostics used by laboratories that perform covid-19 tests.
“Since January 7-9, 2022, a decrease in the proportion of positive samples has been selected, in agreement with the 2022 line increase, in accordance with the 2022 line increase in which circulation the S gene is identified for this failure that specific PCR test, as is the case of the Delta variant and the BA.2 strain”, reads the answer.
It is also here that the number of cases of the BA.1 lineage increases, it may be necessary, at least, to increase the circulation of the BA.2 lineage in Portugal. Even so, current data do not show “a sharp and consistent increase in the BA.2 Portugal lineage”, contrary to what is observed in other countries such as Denmark, India and the Philippines.
The PÚBLICO instituted the Insa on the real proportion of Portugal, but the real question of this lineage states that the data for the week of January 2 has not yet been determined, which prevents it from being adjusted in weight relative to the BA line. .