The emergence of a new mutant of the emerging Corona virus has raised concerns around the world, after it spread rapidly in the United States and Britain in recent days, accounting for nearly 9% of the number of infections recorded in the outbreak. .
The diffusion of “BA.4.6”, one of the main parameters of “Omicron”, has been confirmed, without knowing until now how it appeared, according to the site “Science Alert”, which specializes in scientific news.
The latest Corona mutant report, released by the UK Health Safety Agency, indicated that during the week starting August 14, the new mutant “BA.4.6” accounted for around 3.3% of infections. in the UK, so that the percentage has now started to rise, about 9 per cent of cases registered.
Likewise, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “BA.4.6” now accounts for more than 9% of recent cases recorded in the United States, and the mutant has also been monitored in many other countries around the world.
What is the new mutator?
BA.4.6 is a new version of the BA.4 mutant, originally from Omicron.
Although BA.4 was first discovered in January of this year in South Africa and has since spread around the world along with the BA.5 variant, it is not entirely clear how the new mutant appeared, but it’s possible that it mutated mixed, according to scientific studies.
Is the emergence of the mutant a source of danger?
In an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, Dr. Dirar Balawi, a consultant in the drug treatment of infectious diseases, said that 70 percent of the infections spread worldwide with the corona mutator are of the “PA4” and “PA5” types, but some time ago the PA4.6 mutant began to appear. , but its prevalence is not that great so far, and its percentage of mutant circulating in a particular country is still quite low.
Why this fear of the new mutant?
The fear of the new mutant comes, according to Balawi, because it contains two mutations other than “PA5”, present in his spinal protein, and these two mutations were made to avoid the antibodies that the body naturally produces after receiving the vaccines, or with laboratory-produced antibodies and were not effective for this mutant.
Balawi pointed out that of the 16 drugs studied, it was confirmed that only one drug was capable of actually being against this mutator.
A study has previously shown that antibodies in EvoShield, the only treatment available to protect people with impaired immune function against Covid-19, can lose potency against the BA.4.6 sub-strain.
And the University of Oxford said that people who received three doses of the Pfizer vaccine produce fewer antibodies in response to “BA.4.6”, compared to “BA.4” or “BA.5”, and that’s a concern. , as this indicates that corona vaccines may be less effective against the new mutant.
What are the main symptoms of the mutated infection?
As for the more common symptoms of this mutant, Balawi explained, they are similar to those with the Omicron mutant, as the vast majority of infections are in the upper respiratory tract and rarely affect the lower respiratory tract, considering this a “good thing” therefore that the state of health of the patients does not deteriorate or that they have to enter the care departments.
Notable symptoms of the new mutant include runny nose, muscle aches, tears in the eyes, cough, fever, runny nose, sneezing and headache.
How do we prepare for the new mutator?
The clinical drug therapy consultant for infectious diseases pointed out that the spread of the new corona mutation requires that eyes remain open on it to know its spread through genetic sequence analysis, in anticipation of its further spread, which requires increasing the degree of alert against becoming a “worrying mutation”.
And the “Science Alert” website went to what Balawi confirmed, that close monitoring of the new variables, including “BA.4.6”, is an urgent need, because it could lead to an upcoming wave of the Corona pandemic.
It also requires the public to take basic precautions and follow infection control methods to prevent the spread of the new mutation.
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