The variant was detected in a 54-year-old woman residing in the municipality; WHO states that XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible strain to date.
THE Variant XBB.1.5 Of coronavirusknown as Krakenwas detected for the first time in Brazil this Thursday 5. The patient is a 54-year-old woman who lives in the municipality of indaiatuba, interior of Sao Paulo. This Wednesday, 4, the World Health Organization (WHO) had issued a warning on the increase of XBB.1.5 cases in Europe and the United States and claimed that the subvariant comes from omicron is the more communicable version of COVID-19 so far identified.
The identification in Brazil was carried out by the Integrated Health Network, dasa. The virologist José Eduardo Levi, head of the Genov scientific project, which carries out the genomic surveillance of the covid-19 variants in the company, explains that the patient sample joined a sequence of 1,332 positive samples of the Ômicron variant coronavirus, 33 of which were subvariant XBB, already existing in the country. No information on the woman’s condition has been released.
“The characteristics here are of not having a new wave. We have seen the proportion of XBB increase in a scenario of decreasing number of cases and incidence. It is clear that the effect New Year’s Eve it starts showing up in a few weeks. It’s too early today to talk about it, but what if there was a wave of Christmas we would see it now, so it didn’t happen”, he evaluates.
According to the researcher, within a large-scale analysis of the samples, i.e. without genetic sequencing, it is possible to see that there has been a decrease in the variant that dominated Brazil, BA.5, and its derivatives.
On the rise, however, another variant still unknown, but which has characteristics of XBB. “I estimate that today we are between 20 and 30% of XBB. Whether it is XBB.1.5 or if it will become one, we don’t know yet, only sequencing could tell,” he says.
What is the difference between subvariant XBB and XBB.1.5?
Variants change names based on further changes they develop, such as transmissibility, or changes in key spots that cause the virus to escape the immune response or the use of antibodies in treatment. The World Health Organization has stated through its director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, that XBB.1.5 has already been found in more than 25 countries.
“XBB.1.5, a reassorting BA.2 strain, is on the rise in Europe and the United States, has been identified in more than 25 countries, and WHO is monitoring it closely,” said Tedros.
Brazil, according to the virologist, still has a high number of cases to allow for the “evolution” of the virus. “The more the population is vaccinated, the more naturally immunized you close the bottleneck for the coronavirus until it can mutate,” he says.
As for the symptoms, according to the virologist there are no significant changes with the new subvariant. He explains that the virus has adapted to stay in the upper respiratory tract, and not in the lungs, which leads to pneumonia, as was the case in the pre-Omicron version. “The fear is that a new variant that is ‘very good’ to be transmitted and that it also descends easily into the respiratory tract will emerge. This has not happened yet,” he says.
What changes for vaccines?
In November, Brazil negotiated with Pfizer for 34 million bivalent covid-19 vaccines that protect against the original strain and the BA.1, BA.4 and BA.5 variants. Final shipments should arrive by the end of January.
According to José Eduardo Levi, the updating of vaccines does not follow the variations, which causes a “delay”, but the immunizers still available manage to protect against new versions. “In the end, everyone who has Ômicron in their skeleton is better than what we had,” he explains.
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Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
