Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The BF.7 variant is said to be the most contagious mutation of the Covid-19 virus. Indeed, the virus that is spreading widely in China is known to be able to avoid antibodies, whether they are produced by vaccines or previous infections.
Manal Mohammed, professor of molecular biology at the University of Westminster a The conversation, explained that the Covid-19 virus continues to evolve to produce new subvariants whose transmission is increasingly difficult to contain.
He explained that BF.7 was marked with a specific mutation, namely in the spines (harpoon) a protein on the surface of the virus that is used to attach to and infect human cells.
The protein resulting from the BF.7 mutation is called R346T, which is also found in the parent variant of BF.7, namely BA.5. This section labeled R346T is related to the ability of the new subvariant virus to avoid the effects of antibodies to neutralize the virus.
Subvariant BF.7 was found to be unstoppable by all types of antibodies, both those produced by vaccine injections and those that appeared naturally from previous viral infections.
A recent study examined the neutralization of BF.8 in sera (blood components that contain antibodies) in healthcare workers who had been vaccinated three times and in patients who had been infected with Omicron BA.1 and BA.5.
In both types of patients, BF.7 was found to be able to resist neutralizing effects, mainly due to the R346T mutation.
BF.7 has now been detected all over the world including India, USA and China. In Indonesia, the BF.7 subvariant was also reported to have been detected in Jakarta.
Surprisingly, the massive deployment of BF.7 occurred only in China. In other countries, the diffusion rate of BF.7 even slowed from week to week.
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