CENTAURUS:WHY THE NEW STRAIN OF COVID-19 IS SPREADING IN INDIA IS NOT A WARNING

 Centaurus: Why The New Strain Of Covid-19 Is Spreading In India Is Not A Warning

 

Data shows that BA.2.75 has reached the highest level in India. In addition, it did not lead to a significant increase in hospitalization or death.

Recently, a new type of Covid-19 has been detected in several countries including the UK, USA, India, Australia, and Germany.

This part of this omicron is called BA.2.75. You may also have heard that Centaurus is the name of the star and assigned to BA.2.75 by Twitter users.

The World Health Organization has classified BA.2.75 as a form of concern rather than a form of concern. This means it is being monitored, but there is no evidence that it will cause problems.

The number of BA.2.75 infections is still small. Most infections in the UK are driven by microbial subvariants BA.4 and BA.5. In particular, BA.5 dominates in other countries where BA.2.75 is found.

However, BA.2.75 is more prevalent in India (where it was first detected in May), indicating that it has advantages over the currently circulating variants. Some have noted that BA.2.75 is prevalent in areas where it should not compete with BA.5 as a derivative of BA.2.

Therefore, some data from India shows that BA.2.75 has reached its peak. Most importantly, there was no significant increase in hospitalizations or deaths from BA.2.75 in India.

With that in mind, the BA.2.75 quickly earned an additional nickname: "the fearsome".

Are we still seeing new options?

The majority of the world's population is now vaccinated, infected, or both, and variants that can infect people regardless of their immunity will have an advantage. Therefore, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) is constantly evolving to take advantage of this.

New variants with mutations that evade our immunity will multiply and spread, causing waves of infection. We saw this recently with BA.4 and BA.5.

The innate immune system recognizes infection based on the molecular structure of viruses and other pathogens. Mutations slightly change the molecular structure of each strain of SARS-CoV-2, making it more difficult for our immune system to recognize and respond to the virus. This is often called 'immune avoidance'.

The attention around BA.2.75 has acquired some mutations that can indicate that this variant can escape immunity. But at this stage, there is no good evidence that BA.2.75 can really avoid the immune system.

Most of BA.2.75 is microscopically structurally identical to the original Wuhan strain. Although BA.2.75 has picked up some mutations, it is not a completely different virus.

The memory immune system will still react against BA.2.75, which is what we saw with omicron. This may not be enough to prevent immune reconstitution, but it should reduce the severity of infection BA.2.75.

Although there are concerns that BA.2.75 spreads faster than other options, we do not have concrete evidence of this. Compared to a few weeks ago, it seems to show an improvement or even a downward trend. If so, it may swell in a few more weeks.

But if BA.2.75 has the ability to avoid immunity, it can cause another wave in England and elsewhere. However, this alpha, delta, and omicron can swell and then swell like BA.1.

Improving vaccines may be our best shot

If we had a wave of BA.2.75 due to vaccination, we would not expect the same number of deaths and hospitalizations seen in a pandemic. But we know that many events can cause significant disruption. Above all, the constant wave of new options poses a dangerous threat to the vulnerable. How to deal with this?

One solution could be a universal Covid-19 vaccine that can be used against all variants of Covid-19. The goal of universal vaccination is to create immunity against various molecular structures. It's like fishing with a wider net, which makes it difficult for the fish to get out of the way.

A pan-coronavirus vaccine is a similar concept but would try to create immunity against a molecular structure common to all coronaviruses. In addition to providing immunity against new SARS-CoV-2 variants, a pan-coronavirus vaccine may provide immunity against the next coronavirus pandemic. Some of these vaccines will enter clinical trials in the coming years.

The second solution is to develop a vaccine that induces better immunity in the respiratory system. Many of them involve injections given through your nose that teach your immune system to make more antibodies in the mucus in your nose and throat.

This type of immunity can help prevent SARS-CoV-2 from infecting and multiplying at the point of entry into our cells, reducing the possibility of the emergence of new variants. At least 12 of these intranasal injections are in clinical trials.

Now, I would throw my money at BA.2.75 without a major contagion wave. But the next microbial subvariant and the next pandemic will surely come. A new vaccine approach could make us better prepared.