Microbiologist Doronina named five symptoms of a new coronavirus mutation

For more than three years of the pandemic, the whole world has been watching the gradual change of the coronavirus. At first, its new variants were called letters, then they switched to the names of mythical animals – “Centaur”, “Gryphon”, “Kraken” … At the same time, today almost no one doubts that SARS-Cov-2 has remained with us forever. And the confidence that the disease will proceed more easily has been shaken: the virus periodically gives out alarming mutations, which by no means indicate its harmlessness. Where the coronavirus evolves, MK learned from experts.

We do not have time to breathe a sigh of relief, as the coronavirus gives out new waves, shoots with new options and brings new destruction to the world in different parts of the planet. Today such burning spots are China, Japan, part of Europe, the USA.

The Chinese wave of COVID-19 is called catastrophic by some experts. In overcrowded hospitals in China, oxygen beds have to be placed in corridors. In addition, videos of endless queues in the crematorium with the bodies of those who died from COVID-19 appeared on the Web. Two flights from China arrived at Malpensa Airport (Italy): on one, 38% of positive passengers, and on the second, 52%. Italy, Japan and India have introduced mandatory testing of arrivals from China, followed by a 7-day quarantine for those who are positive. France and the United States are ready to follow Italy’s example.

In Japan, meanwhile, during the eighth wave, new anti-records are recorded. For example, by daily mortality (438 deaths in 24 hours). At the height of the 7th wave, in September, the maximum deaths were recorded on September 2 – 347.

Of particular concern was the XBB.1.5 variant, which was given the unofficial name “Kraken”. Today, it is actively spreading in the United States, causing not only an increase in the incidence, but also a rapid increase in hospitalizations. In addition, the Kraken is increasingly being identified in Israel.

… Today, epidemiologists are talking about the so-called. hyperendemicity of SARS-Cov-2. This means that it is constantly present next to us, and its transmission in the population remains at a high level. Such viruses are a dime a dozen everywhere, and most of the time, hyperendemic viruses are relatively harmless. But so far, you can’t say the same about SARS-Cov-2.

According to laboratory diagnostics doctor Alexander Solovyov, numerous scientific publications indicate that not only a mild infection can significantly impair health in the future, but even asymptomatic carriage of SARS-CoV-2 is not safe: “COVID-19 is a multifactorial disease characterized by the following features: an increased burden of chronic diseases or conditions; latent viruses (EBV, HHV6 and HERV-K) are reactivated; the risks of various adverse diseases increase with each infection; the resource of the immune system is reduced. No one knows what state the immune system will be in children 10 years from the start of the pandemic – like in older people? Obviously the virus is evolving. And not only by changing your S-protein, more and more avoiding neutralization by antibodies. Now we also know that the virus is evolving towards less visibility for the cells of the immune system – it penetrates into a variety of cells and this goes unnoticed. SARS-CoV-2 has not just acquired a “master key” to get into different cells, but it has opened Pandora’s box and made us more vulnerable to other infections. The evolution of the virus also follows the path of changing pathogenicity. Information about the decrease in the pathogenicity of Omikron, and therefore the reduction in the risk of damage to the lower respiratory tract, made us happy at the end of last year. The new data, alas, is not joyful. Variants of “Omicron” BA.2 and especially BA.5 more severely damage cardiomyocytes (heart cells. — Auth.) than the first version of Omicron. Variant BA.5 demonstrates increased neurovirulence – it infects different parts of the brain. The ORF7a:H47Y mutation in BF.5 in Japan and BF.7 in China may explain the increase in hospital admissions and severe cases. The widespread spread of the virus now in all countries gives rise to new variants in any country.”

Solovyov concludes that the endemicity of COVID-19 did not make the virus harmless: “We need to adapt to the inevitable multiple infection, maintaining and restoring our health.”

Omicron became the record holder for the number of mutations. As MK said microbiologist, assistant of the Department of Science, Pedagogical Faculty of Manchester Metropolitan University Victoria Doronina, this variant differed from the original strain in a shift of symptoms from the lungs to the nasopharynx and a faster spread: “New variants continue the trend. For example, BF.7 causes five main symptoms: stuffy nose, sore throat, cough, fatigue, and runny nose. The loss of smell and taste characteristic of the original strain is also much less common. As you can see, this is not much different from the symptoms of the flu and many other SARS.

Why is the virus gaining pathogenicity?

– I do not agree that the pathogenicity of strains derived from Omicron is higher than that of the original COVID-19 strain. A surge in mortality from the consequences of covid, comparable to the first wave, is not observed. Of course, the question is how pathogenic the current strains are in populations that have not experienced COVID-19, and it is possible that higher. But there are no such populations left all over the world, maybe in some Amazon forests. The majority of the population of the industrialized world has either been ill or vaccinated, more often ill several times, so any effects will be smoothed out.

Is it possible to create a vaccine that will not depend on mutations at all?

– The answer is similar to the answer to the question whether it is possible to create a universal lock. For every lock, the evolution of the virus will pick up a master key. For example, attempts to create a universal vaccine against the influenza virus have been going on for decades. The dilemma is that the universal parts of the virus envelope, which are the same in different variants (strains) of the influenza virus, cause a poor immune response, that is, it is difficult to obtain an effective vaccine using them. The parts of the shell that elicit a strong immune response are easily mutated. There is an arms race between the virus and the vaccine, similar to the race between the virus and the immune system.

Do the latest generations of vaccines work?

– They work. The most difficult thing is to develop a vaccine for a new virus when it is not known what will be effective. When there is a vaccine that works against the original variant, it is much easier to change it slightly to accommodate the new variant. And until there are data on the effectiveness of modified vaccines, we need to look at the effectiveness of the original vaccines. If an adenovirus platform vaccine was very effective against the original virus, then a vaccine adapted to new strains is likely to be effective as well. If traditional vaccines based on an inactivated virus protein have been ineffective, it is unlikely that they will suddenly become a good protection against new variants.

— Is the Chinese scenario possible in Russia or other countries of the world?

– The Chinese scenario is possible only in countries where the same combination of conditions as in China – strict long-term quarantines as the main protection measure; vaccines with relatively low efficacy; the main group of the population sensitive to covid – the elderly – are practically unvaccinated. This creates conditions close to those that were during the first or second wave – a low level of immunity of the population. Other countries with relatively strict quarantines – Australia, New Zealand – have successfully vaccinated the population. In Russia, there have never been centralized effective measures, which led to the spread of COVID-19 within and between regions. This allowed the population to obtain natural immunity, which is superimposed by the availability of effective vaccines. Those who were smarter or understood that they were especially sensitive to the virus got vaccinated. And those who have not been vaccinated have been ill by now several times. Not by washing, so by rolling, the notorious herd immunity, which is practically non-existent in China, was created.

Is there any chance that the coronavirus will leave us forever?

“Three years after the start of the epidemic, we came to what the optimists predicted: the virus went from deadly to one with which we can live. It spreads faster, but at the cost of reduced pathogenicity. But this is one side of the coin. The second is that for the same reasons it will remain in the population indefinitely. The virus can disappear only if the entire infected population either died out or received immunity for life, as was the case with the smallpox virus. This will not happen with COVID-19, because it mutates, most people who get it do not die, and asymptomatic carriers have always been its main spreaders. Other coronaviruses have already been in the repertoire of seasonal SARS, COVID-19 has only been added to them. And it will disappear no sooner than the strains of the flu virus disappear.