The new variant, dubbed BA.2.86 and nicknamed Pirola on social media, has more than 30 amino acid mutations in its spike protein compared to its closest ancestor, the BA.2 Omicron subvariant, said Dr. Jesse Bloom, who studies viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, on the site of his laboratory.
According to him, this causes an evolutionary leap comparable in size to the one that originally gave rise to Omicron.
On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated BA.2.86 as an “option under surveillance,” urging countries to track and report the sequences found.
A variant under surveillance that causes more severe disease or does not respond to existing vaccines or treatments may be placed on the WHO list of options of interest or concern. According to CNN, XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16 and EG.5 are listed as options of interest.
So far, only six BA.2.86 sequences have been reported in four countries, but epidemiologists are concerned that there may actually be many more as monitoring of coronavirus variants around the world ceases. The variant was discovered by scientists in Israel last Sunday. Since then, Denmark has reported three sequences. Two more sequences were recorded in the United States and Great Britain, respectively.
“It is unusual for COVID-19 to change so much and develop 30 new mutations. The last time we saw such a big change was when Omicron came along,” said Morten Rasmussen, Principal Investigator at the Danish Statens Serum Institut (SSI). According to his experts, three cases have been reported in Denmark in people in different parts of the country who do not appear to have been in contact with each other. However, SSI scientists stressed that it is too early to say anything about the severity or contagion of the new variant. They are in the process of culturing a variant of the virus to test against human antibodies.
A highly mutated variant of COVID-19 is already in the UK, national health officials confirmed on Friday amid fears it could trigger a new wave of infections in the country.
In a new threat assessment for the variant on Friday, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the fact that these sequences are found in four different countries in people who have not recently traveled “suggests that there is established international transmission.” The sequences found are very similar to each other, which may indicate they are recent and rapidly spreading, the report says, though the UKHSA says it has little confidence in this estimate until more sequences become available.
Meanwhile
In March, the White House secretly polled more than 10 COVID-19 experts who monitor the evolution of the coronavirus, asking about the likelihood of a highly mutated variant appearing in the next two years. Most experts have estimated the probability of this happening at between 10 and 20 percent, the television channel notes. XBB EG.5 is currently the dominant variant in the US, causing approximately 20 percent of all new COVID-19 cases in that country. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s variant tracking system, the next most common variant, FL.1.5.1, has grown rapidly and now causes about 13 percent of all cases. new cases.
