“The devil we don’t know yet”: the “Pirola” coronavirus strain has worried geneticists
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The incidence of Covid in the country began to rise rapidly. According to the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova, 35-36 thousand cases of infection are now registered daily, but experts advise to safely multiply this figure by at least 10. Most people get sick with mild symptoms and do not even see a doctor, and those who do should get tested offered on rare occasions.
At the same time, Rospotrebnadzor experts do not see any tragedy in what is happening and do not even advise getting vaccinated. Meanwhile, all the experts interviewed by MK are confident that the reason is that there is simply no vaccine in the country.
The spread of SARS-CoV-2 is being reported today from different parts of the planet. While the Eris variant (EG.5) holds the dominant position, this is already the 14th dominant lineage of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. “Eris” replaced Arcturus (XBB.1.16) and led to a worsening of the epidemic situation in the countries of the Northern Hemisphere since July,” says doctor, laboratory diagnostics expert Alexander Solovyov.
At the same time, the world has not yet begun to feel the influence of “Pirola” (recombinant BA.2.86, which the World Health Organization has designated as “of concern”). Although its share is constantly growing and in some countries (Denmark, France, England) has already reached 10%. As Pirola spreads, it continues to improve, acquiring additional mutations. For example, its variant JN.1 has appeared – even more resistant to antibodies after vaccination or previous infections. Many virologists believe that JN.1 will still make a splash. And the new sub-variants “Pyrola” HV.1, HK.3 and JN.1 are called “the devil we don’t know yet.”
In Russia, “Arcturus” and “Eris” are currently being identified, but “Pirola” is already being found. “And then everything will depend on new variants – JN.1 and other mutants,” says Soloviev.
As the famous US geneticist Dmitry Prus explains, fears about the new group of strains are based not so much on the ability of the original “Pirola” to spread and bypass the immune system, but on the expectation of its further evolution: “There is a lot of room for evolution there and because the S-protein “ Pyrol” turned out to be highly functional (it binds perfectly to the ACE2 receptor, and this provides a margin of safety against the deterioration of the protein after mutations), and because this S-protein already has many unusual substitutions (which means that unusual new ones may be internally compatible with the protein structure mutations that did not yet exist in nature due to incompatibility with previous versions). And the proof of this did not take long to arrive: “Pirola” had already acquired a previously unprecedented mutation L455S, which was incompatible with the structures of S-proteins of previous types of “Omicron” (and the result was the same strain JN.1. – Author) In the most effective strains Today, this position has also undergone a recent mutation. The reason for this evolutionary selection pressure is well known. The last of the antibodies against the early Omicrons that were still helping against the Kraken this spring were “Class I” antibodies. “Class I” became the only well-equipped line of defense, but the virus could not help but break through it. And Pirola achieved this breakthrough in its own unique and winning way. It turned out that the L455S mutation does not weaken, but even further enhances the function of the protein and at the same time creates the most immune-resistant strain of all virus variants. What next steps will the evolution of the virus now offer us? The possibilities are inexhaustible…”
Meanwhile, in Russia they no longer see any point in vaccination, as reported by the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova. “Popova’s strange statement that the risks of COVID-19 are low and therefore vaccination is not offered this season,” comments Alexander Solovyov. — The increase in morbidity, hospitalization and mortality from COVID-19 does not count, apparently. Why can’t we honestly say that there is no vaccine? And then how can we explain to people that they need to get vaccinated when a new booster appears? Unfortunately, such an ambivalent policy towards the prevention of infectious diseases gives rise to distrust in vaccination in general.”
As a specialist in the field of molecular biology, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Konstantin Severinov told MK, there are really no vaccines in the country right now that protect against circulating variants of coronavirus. The virus is evolving towards becoming less recognizable by antibodies from previous diseases and vaccines. In Russia, vaccines are registered only against the first, Wuhan variant. They do not work against current variants of the virus. The claim that current variants of the virus are less dangerous than the original variants is generally correct. However, they can still be fatal to people at risk, and a supply of proven vaccines is needed.
In the USA, Pfizer and Moderna changed their vaccines to Omicron in the middle of last year, and they are still used today. Our variants of Sputnik, directed against Omicron, were developed by last summer and were produced at the Gamaleya Institute in small series, including a nasal form. But they did not go into production, as the approval procedure was delayed. When approval is received, another vaccine will be required. It turns out to be a bad infinity. I was last vaccinated last August with the Sputnik nasal vaccine. Now I have become infected with Covid, the disease is much milder than when I was sick with Omicron in February 2022 after two doses of standard Sputnik and two doses of Pfizer. The doctor prescribed triazovirin, but I preferred to abstain from it.”
Dmitry Prus says that today’s leaders from the “Eris” and “Pirola” families were well neutralized by the serums of those vaccinated with the new American vaccine: “Based on this, I was vaccinated myself. But most of us, of course, are not threatened with a severe course of the disease; this is not 2020 anymore. For those who have been sick in recent months, vaccination now is unlikely to improve protection. In such cases, the immune system has already begun to adjust to more modern strains than the winter-spring XBB.1.5, on which the vaccine is based. After six months or more, immune protection will begin to wane, but by then it may become clearer whether today’s version of the vaccine continues to protect against the newer strains. So then we will have to think about the decision.”
Meanwhile, SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread faster and faster. And controlling the spread of the virus as it evolves becomes more difficult. Recent studies have shown a progressive shortening of the incubation period and serial interval, which may lead to a higher peak incidence. If the first covid strains had an incubation period of 5.2 days, with “Delta” it was reduced to 3.9 days, “Omicron” – 3.2 days, and the “Omicron” VA.5 variant – to 2.3 days. “The virus is evolving as expected – towards the ability to leave more offspring. That is, reducing the severity of the disease and learning to bypass defense mechanisms. I see this in myself: I was sicker with Omicron than I am now,” says Konstantin Severinov.
But some scientists see a new phase in the development of humanity in the current pandemic: against the backdrop of the fact that the fight against infectious diseases has ceased to be a priority in the world, SARS-CoV-2 is released out of control. In today’s world, viruses spread much faster than they did centuries ago, and the experience of this pandemic has shown that dangerous new pathogens will not be contained. And from this point of view, our future does not look bright.
Newspaper headline:
New coronavirus dress
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