New Covid variant: all that is known about BA.4.6, the most contagious Ómicron strain that is gaining ground

The WHO assured a few days ago that the end of the Covid pandemic was “in sight”, which shows the light after more than two years of uncertainty. However, despite this, Covid is still there and the virus continues to mutateso it will still take some time before we stop hearing news about the emergence of new variants.

After the arrival of Omicron and its sublines BA.4 and BA.5 – which became the dominant ones this summer and responsible for the skyrocketing infections a few months ago – experts have detected a new variant that has already been confirmed in several positives in the United Kingdom and the United States.

What is the new Covid variant?

This is BA.4.6, a sub-lineage of which, although its origin is not fully known, it is the experts begin to worry. According to Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of Westminster, Manal Mohammed, in an article published in The Conversation, it accounted for 3.3% of samples analyzed in the UK and 9% in the US in August.

Although he acknowledges that it is not yet clear how this happened, everything indicates that it is a “recombinant” variant.ie what happens when two different variants infect the same person at the same time. In this case, it “carries a mutation in the Spike protein” (the one that adheres to our cells) “associated with immune evasionwhich helps the virus escape antibodies acquired from vaccinations and previous infections “.

BA.4.6 Keys: Avoid Vaccines? Is it more contagious?

Currently, the predominant and most contagious variant is BA.5. But according to a report by the professor of Microbiology, published on 9 September, everything points to BA.4.6 “replicates more quickly in the early stages of infection and has a growth rate above BA.5. “

Another aspect that worries the experts a lot is that, like its predecessors, also the new variant it would evade the effects of Covid vaccines. According to the University of Oxford, those who received three doses of the vaccine would produce fewer antibodies in response to this variant than those who produced BA.4 and BA.5.

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main symptoms

The main signs that indicate contagion with this new variant have not yet been thoroughly analyzed, but everything seems to indicate that they would not be very different from those we have already seen with its predecessors. The fatigue, cough, fever or headache are common ailments in infected people, as is the diarrhea, sore throat and a shorter incubation period for the virus. Additional symptoms:

• fatigue or asthenia
• Tos
• Fever
• Headache or headache
• Rhinorrhea
• Myalgia or muscle pain
• Anosmia and ageusia (lack of smell and taste)
• Dyspnea or shortness of breath
• dizziness

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