TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Do you know the facts about Eek? Eek or E484K is a new mutation of the corona virus, first identified in South Africa (B1351) and Brazil (B1128), then found in a number of regions, including Japan and Indonesia. Japanese health officials find this mutation in about 70 percent of patients COVID-19 or 10 out of 14 people tested in Tokyo hospitals by March 2021.
In Indonesia, this virus mutation occurs around February 2021. Professor of Lung from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia (FKUI), Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama, called this mutation something worrying.
“This E484K mutation by some experts is called the Eek mutation, which means something that is alarming and is a warning. This occurs because this mutation appears to have an impact on the response of the immune system,” he said.
Eek’s mutations have the ability to evade natural immunity from previous COVID-19 infections and reduce the protection offered by current vaccines. In other words, Eek is also called the “escape” mutation because it alters the part of the viral spike protein that the immune system relies on to recognize and initiate an immune response.
These changes may mean avoiding the immune response triggered by previous vaccines or infections. The E484K mutation alters the original viral spike protein so that it is easier to bind and form stronger connections to host cells, making them more infectious. Tjandra revealed the B117 variant corona virus When added with the E484K mutation, the body needs to increase the number of serum antibodies to prevent infection.
Also read: Signs of Genuine Medical Masks, Avoid Fakes
“We all know that the B117 variant has indeed been proven to be much more infectious, so if it joins the E484K mutation it will certainly cause quite a big problem for the transmission of COVID-19 in the community,” he said.
In addition, this E484K mutation also appears to shorten the working period of neutralizing antibodies in the body. In other words, it will be easier for people to get reinfected after recovering from COVID-19. Furthermore, because of their effect on antibodies there may be an impact on efficacy vaccine. Tjandra and other health experts are still waiting for the results of further research on how it impacts vaccine efficacy.
“It should be noted that if the E484K mutation and / or other new mutations or variants will indeed make the vaccine ineffective, experts and vaccine producers will be able to modify the existing vaccines so that they will remain effective in controlling COVID-19,” said Tjandra.
Then what about prevention? Tjandra recommends that people stick to health protocols while health workers carry out intensive contact tracing under special circumstances. Then, the authorities have the authority to monitor the arrival of people from abroad and increase the number of whole genome sequencing or whole genome sequencing to determine the complete DNA sequence.
– .
