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The new coronavirus variant “B.1.1.529” is currently attracting all scientific attention. The variant was first spotted in mid-November in Botswana, where three cases have since been sequenced. Six more have been confirmed in South Africa and one in Hong Kong in a traveler returning from South Africa. Meanwhile, cases have also been reported in Israel and Belgium.
While in the rest of South Africa, the Covid 19 pandemic has slowed down considerably in the current spring there, Gauteng province has recently seen a massive increase in new infections:
It is impossible to say at this time if and how the existing Corona vaccines will need to be adapted. Vaccine manufacturer BioNTech has already initiated studies of the new variant and could adapt the vaccine within 6 weeks.
Ultimately, laboratory trials would have to show how well the vaccines work against it. “It could be that this is the first variant that you have to adapt the vaccine to – but maybe not,” Austrian virologist Florian Krammer told APA. What is clear, he said, is that “if you see a significant increase in severe infections among vaccinated people, you have to adapt it quickly.”
Variant B.1.1.529 has 32 mutations in the spike protein. That’s the part of the virus that most vaccines use to prime the immune system against covid. Mutations in the spike protein can affect the virus’ ability to infect cells and spread, but also make it harder for immune cells to attack the pathogen – in other words, bypass the immune system.
In addition, there are more than a dozen mutations in other parts of the virus. “This is an extraordinarily high number, and, unusually, no related variants are known so far – it almost seems as if B.1.1.529 came out of nowhere,” Lars Fischer said in an article on Spektrum.de.
Whether the variant is also more easily transmissible cannot yet be said with certainty on the basis of the available data. However, a renewed increase in infections in a heavily contaminated country such as South Africa suggests that new variations are at least partly responsible, says scientist Susan Hopkins of Imperial College in London to the BBC.
According to Austrian’s newspaper “Heute” virologist Dr. Redlberger-Fritz also cannot say at this stage whether the new mutation makes people more seriously ill, for example, or whether it calls into question the effectiveness of vaccines. “But it is important to emphasize that we are monitoring this virus very closely worldwide.” Never before has a virus been so well monitored, the expert says. Because of this surveillance, such “variances of concerns” would just be noticed more quickly. These are variants that have many mutations or have mutations in places that could influence the contagiousness and/or severity of the disease. This is the case with the new “B.1.1.529” variant.
For Redlberger-Fritz it is clear: “The more viruses circulate and the higher the activity, the more likely it is that such mutations will occur. That’s why it’s important to get vaccinated. Because only if we all protect ourselves collectively can we push the virus back and prevent such mutations.” In South Africa, the vaccination rate is only 42.7 percent, and only a quarter of healthcare workers are vaccinated.
It’s too early to tell. The increase could also be explained by something other than higher infectivity. For example, infection rates in South Africa have recently been relatively low, at around 300 new cases per day. Accordingly, there was little delta, which is also currently the dominant variant in South Africa. “That means B.1.1.529 could also have simply come into this vacuum where there was no real competition,” said Emma Hodcroft of the University of Bern in an interview with the BBC. Other variants that emerged in the meantime would always have been in competition with Delta and would not have had a chance to prevail against Delta.
- source: heute.at/picture:pixabay.com
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