A new coronavirus variant called “Pirola” is causing concern among health experts in the United States. It’s a mutated version of the Omicron variant, which led to a surge in COVID-19 cases in many countries, including the US.
This new variant, BA.2.86, has more than 30 changes to its spike protein, which is crucial for the virus to infect human cells. This high number of mutations is worrying because it could make the virus more contagious or resistant to vaccines.
“Such a high number of mutations is notable. When we went from [Omicron variant] XBB.1.5 to [Eris] EG.5, that was maybe one or two mutations. But these massive shifts, which we also saw from Delta to Omicron, are worrisome. Nobody knows right now, but studies are ongoing,” Infectious Disease Specialist, Dr. Scott Roberts said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that there’s no evidence yet that “Pirola” causes more severe illness or deaths. Still, it has been found in several countries, including Denmark, Israel, Canada, Sweden, the UK, and the US. In the US, it was first detected in August and has been found in at least four states.
Related post: https://www.medburymedicals.com/covid-new-variant-ba-2-86-detected-in-u-s/
The fact that the strain has been detected in at least six countries, and the cases are not related, “suggests some degree of transmission in the [international] community that we’re not detecting,” Dr Roberts explained.
“The big question is if BA.2.86 will have the same exponential growth that Omicron did–in terms of case numbers–or if it will die out, which is certainly what everyone hopes,” he said.
The silver lining, according to Dr Roberts, is that “the world is not as vulnerable to severe illness or infection” from COVID-19 as in 2020 because there’s a greater degree of herd immunity due to either vaccination or past infection. However, for many of us, it might have been a year or more since we’ve had a booster, so I would encourage everyone to get the updated shot, which is expected to come out in mid-September.”
Updated COVID-19 vaccines will become available in the US in September amid fears over the EG 5 or “Eris” which is a sub-variant of Omicron and the dominant strain in America right now.
The CDC reported that these boosters are being created to aim specifically at the Omicron variant, and they could also potentially reduce cases of severe disease and hospitalization caused by “Pirola.”
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