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Although in May the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the end of the global health emergency due to coronavirus, new subvariants of omicron continue to emerge, the mutation that has circulated the most in Uruguay and in the world for at least a year and half.
At a time when the population “lowered its guard” in the face of the circulation of the virus, a new subvariant emerged, called EG.5 or Eris, which, although it has not yet been detected in Uruguay, the WHO declared of “interest”. in dialogue with the dailyÁlvaro Galiana, infectologist and director of the Pereira Rossell Hospital Center, explained what the new mutation is about, what is known so far and what are the differences that its impact on the population may have with respect to previous sublineages.
In principle, he recalled that, just as at other times other variants, such as beta or gamma, predominated, for a “considerable time” the one that circulates with the greatest presence is omicron, which has the characteristic of being less aggressive but more contagious. What changes is that it is less “virulent”, it affects the lung tissue less and generates a respiratory condition that “does not reach severity”, unlike the first months of the coronavirus, in which the first cases “quickly entered the CTI” .
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He clarified that the situation in which the pictures of the diseases are not serious was reached after a long time and that “many people have become ill”, together with the start of the vaccination campaigns.
Specifically regarding omicron, he maintained that “there were small alterations over time” that make the antibodies less and less strong because “small changes” occur and although the “global protein” remains the same, the capacity of the antibodies “it is less”, therefore, more quantity is required. Added to this is that since the disease is now “less aggressive, immunization is not maintained” because the population lowers its level of alertness and vaccinates less.
In any case, he acknowledged that now in Uruguay “there is not much circulation of the virus”, but until not so long ago there was and “people did not take it as a worrying situation”, but the spatialist pointed out that it should be for those who have factors of risk such as obesity, comorbidities and issues that may favor “it being a problem”.
Regarding EG.5, he explained that in the United States in recent weeks there has been a “quite significant” increase that over the days “continued to grow” until reaching figures that are compelling, not only in that region, but also in countries closer to Uruguay, for example, Brazil. He added that, taking into account that the subvariant that started representing 5% and is now at 17%, the WHO issued an alert.
For Galiana, the situation in the United States is particular because winter is about to start there, that is, the scenario is prior to a season in which viruses circulate more. In any case, although in Uruguay we are in an inverse situation, we still have to “keep it in mind” because in summer the covid “is also transmitted”.
In turn, in the face of the new subvariants the antibodies are “less effective”, therefore, although the symptoms are not generally serious, “we must be careful”, especially with people who present certain risk factors, for example, “Older,” he pointed out. For mutations and also for possible new variants, in principle the only vaccine we have is the monovalent one. Regarding this, Galiana said that the effectiveness of the “original” vaccine is decreasing and that is why the idea that for covid-19 there could be an “annual immunization and appropriate to the predominance of the strain at each moment” is already being handled.
The symptoms of the new variant are the same as those of the other omicron strains. Some of them can be fever, cough, decay, body pain, runny nose and congestion.
In short, he recalled that there may still be changes because the coronavirus chapter “has not yet closed.” In another circumstance, the omicron may no longer predominate”, and the eventual variant could cause “greater lung damage”. Regarding the vaccines available in Uruguay, he said that “they are linked to the first strains” and commented that the bivalents have not yet arrived.
2023-08-17 21:53:37
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