The last mutation of the Covid forces to update the vaccines
The Spanish Society of Primary Care Physicians (SEMERGEN) has confirmed that this summer they are producing more cases of colds and Covid, although the paintings are milder than during the pandemic. This rise in cases is due to the new mutation of the Coronavirus, the so-called Flip that, despite the fact that it presents the same symptoms as the rest of the variants, it is much more contagious than its predecessors.
According to Antonio Zapatero, Head of the Internal Medicine Service at the University Hospital of Fuenlabrada, science should be forced to to modify the vaccine with a view to the autumn and winter reinforcement campaign, due to the fact that a more effective against the Flip.
The new variant
Antonio Zapatero has elaborated a thread on platform “X” which establishes that, globally, the circulation of this new variable is lowsince it is around 2%, however, in some countries such as Brazil or Spain, the percentages are higher and in In our country, specifically, the percentage of circulation is between 15 and 20 percent.
Evolution of infections of the Flip variant / Source: Erictopol
With this new variable, once the virus binds to the respiratory system, a double change occurs: the amino acid F (Phenylalanine) is changed to L (leucine). This exchange makes the virus more contagious but the symptoms do not change. This, according to Dr. Zapatero affirms to Confidential Digital, means that it is a “trick” of the virus to survive, since it gives it a higher capacity to join the respiratory system of the recipient.
Vaccine update
The clinical picture is not more serious than that of the previous variants and the symptoms are the same: Fever, sore throat, nasal congestion, sneezing, coughing, etc. The problem is that, being more transmissible, it can cause vulnerable people to face clinical pictures that are potentially more serious. For the rest of the population, those who do not have medical problems, the only additional problem is that it is transmitted in a faster way.
From a scientific point of view, the vaccines that are currently being used are valid to deal with this new variable, however it would not achieve it in the most efficient way possible. According to many authors, the perfect vaccine to deal with la Flip must carry part of the genetic material of the XBB variant, which stores a lots of similarities with this last mutation. Faced with this situation, Dr. Zapatero establishes that booster vaccines should include at least the XBB.1.5 variant, which shares aspects with the last mutation and will make it more effective against severe Covid.
increased testing
Coinciding with this new variant, the sale of antigen tests for the detection of Covid-19 doubled in the last week of July compared to the same period of the previous month. According to the report by the consulting firm Iqvia, Navarra, the Basque Country and the Valencian Community top the sales list. The study, carried out in 6,500 pharmacies, reveals that between July 24 and 31, 179,965 tests have been sold, which implies an increase of 112% compared to the last week of June.
Antonio Zapatero warns that this increase in the number of Covid tests is nothing more than a “indirect indicator” that the number of cases has increased, but not decisive. The latest official data offered by the Ministry of Health dates from June 30, and reflected a drop in infections to 41.5 per 100,000 inhabitants in 15 days. This This was the last time that Health offered data on the evolution of the pandemic, since stopped posting them when declaring the end of the health emergency.
The last mutation of the Covid forces to update the vaccines
2023-08-08 23:00:00
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