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With the emergence of the EG.5 variant, the World Health Organization, WHO, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, are tracking yet another highly mutated lineage of the COVID-19 virus.
Tagged BA.2.86, six cases of the new lineage have been detected in four countries since late July, and scientists say they are keeping an eye on the new lineage because it has 36 mutations that distinguish it from the currently dominant XBB.1.5 variant.
So far, there is no evidence that BA.2.86 spreads faster or causes more serious illness than previous versions, but there are warnings on protection from COVID that largely remain the same.
Dr. Maria von Kerkhov, Infectious Disease Epidemiologist; COVID-19 Technical Lead; Emerging Diseases and Zoonoses Lead, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, notes that it is good to see articles about BA.2.86 and EG.5 being published, even as she disagrees that the development has caught scientists by surprise.
“It has not. This is exactly why we have surveillance, sequencing, TAG-VE, and reporting systems in place,” she noted in a tweet.
The question is, should people be concerned about the new variants?
Where is it?
Over the past few days, public health authorities have documented one case each of BA.2.86 in the United States, the UK, and Israel, and three cases in Denmark.
What is known about it?
Dr. S. Wesley Long, medical head of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist Hospital, noted that BA.2.86 varies from the variety targeted by current vaccinations because it comes from a “earlier branch” of the COVID-19 virus.
Reduced testing
He said it remains to be seen whether BA.2.86 will be able to outcompete other strains of the virus or have any advantage in escaping immune responses from prior infection or vaccination.
But many countries have drastically reduced the testing of patients and their efforts to analyze the genomes of the viruses causing new COVID cases. In that situation, the trajectory of BA.2.86 “doesn’t look good right now,” given the speed at which new cases are being identified.
Its many mutations make BA.2.86 “radically different in its structure” compared to earlier variants.
Will new variants make people sicker?
It is too soon to know whether BA.2.86 will cause a more severe illness.
Will vaccines protect against new variants?
Due to the waning of the pandemic, it may have been a year or more since many people were either previously infected or vaccinated against COVID.
Updated COVID booster shots now being developed have been designed to target the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5.
Moderna said preliminary trial data suggest its latest version of the vaccine shows promise against Eris and a related variant called Fornax, which are circulating in the U.S.
Pfizer Inc. has said its updated COVID-19 shot showed neutralizing activity against the EG.5 subvariant in a study. (Vanguard)
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