Do you need to worry?, COVID-19 mutant BA. 2.86 with a large number of mutations has also been found in Canada for the first time | virus | mutation
Canadian health officials said on the 29th that Canada has detected the first case of infection with the highly mutated COVID-19 variant BA.2.86. Recently, the COVID-19 variant BA.2.86, which was first found in Denmark, has appeared in many countries around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Israel, Switzerland, etc. Researchers believe that the highly mutated strain may lead to more breakthrough infections, but it is unlikely to trigger a new wave of severe outbreaks.
Has appeared in multiple countries around the world
According to Canadian health officials, the first patient to be infected with BA. 286 resides in the province of British Columbia and has never traveled outside the province before. This case does not require hospitalization, and the risks faced by residents of British Columbia will not change due to the emergence of BA. 286.
The statement also stated that the appearance of the BA.2.86 variant in Canada is not surprising. COVID-19 continues to spread around the world, and the virus is also constantly changing.
It is reported that BA. 286, nicknamed "Pirola", belongs to the Omicron family and was first confirmed on July 24th.
Within just over a month, BA.2.86 has been discovered in multiple countries in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia, including the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Israel, and others. Switzerland and Thailand have also reported detection of BA. 286 in wastewater samples. Some analysis suggests that although there are only sporadic cases, the mutated strain has a wide footprint, indicating that it may have spread worldwide.
This has sounded the alarm globally, and international and national health institutions have been monitoring BA. 286.
On August 17th, the World Health Organization listed BA.2.86 as a "variant under monitoring", stating that it carries a large number of genetic mutations. Subsequently, WHO Director General Tedros called on countries to strengthen monitoring, sequencing, and reporting in order to assess the risk of new variants such as BA. 286.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said recently that the new lineage of this COVID-19 has been detected in the US and is being tracked.
Researchers have noticed that many cases of COVID-19 variant infection are on the rise recently. The World Health Organization listed the Omicron variant EG.5 as a "strain that needs attention" on the 9th.
Do you need to worry?
Why is BA.2.86 so popular? Researchers believe that this is due to the high number of mutations in BA.2.86, which is likely to trigger more breakthrough infections. This means that people previously infected with COVID-19 or vaccinated may still be infected with BA. 2.86.
Timothy Murphy, a respiratory specialist at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Medicine at the State University of New York at Buffalo, said that compared to any variant of the Omicron strain in the past, BA.2.86 has much more mutations.
According to computational biology experts such as Jesse Bloom from the Fred Hatch Cancer Center in the United States, BA.2.86 has 35 mutations compared to the recently transmitted XBB.1.5, 33 mutations compared to BA.2, and 57 mutations compared to the earliest discovered variant at the end of 2019.
William Schaffner, a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and an expert in infectious diseases, said that the large number of spike protein mutations discovered by scientists in BA.2.86 will raise the question of whether the mutated strain may evade the previously established immunity in humans. This still needs to be observed.
Another question is whether BA.2.86 may worsen the condition of infected individuals.
The World Health Organization announced on the 25th that it has not yet received reports of BA.2.86 deaths. Cases found in the United States, Canada, and other places also have mild symptoms and have not been hospitalized for treatment.
Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Institute for Translational Sciences in the United States, believes that if BA. 286 is widely spread, it may cause more infections and deaths in more vulnerable populations.
However, researchers all believe that due to the current low number of cases, it is still too early to determine whether BA.2.86 will lead to widespread transmission or more severe illness. Given that large-scale vaccination and infection worldwide have established immunity, it is unlikely that BA.2.86 will trigger a new wave of infections and deaths.
Brian Conway, an infectious disease expert and medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Disease Center in Canada, said that the emergence of new strains was reminding people that "COVID-19 has not completely disappeared". As the autumn and winter seasons approach, the number of infected individuals may still increase, and people should be prepared for this.
