While in Argentina COVID infections are increasing vertiginously, although at a much lower rate than that experienced in previous summers; The bad news comes from abroad and that is that the experts confirmed the detection of two new subvariants of the feared Omicron strain of the coronavirus: the BQ.1 Y BQ.1.1, with presence in the US and Europe; and the XBBrecombinant of BA.2 and present in Asia.
The subvariants were commonly named as “Hellhound” (BQ.1) and “Nightmare” (XBB) to try to differentiate them from other viruses, but the truth is that these names do not have any type of scientific endorsement.
“BQ.1, BQ1.1, and these other new variants have evolved in different places, but, to some extent, they share similar spike proteins that make them at least as infectious as the parental variants from which they were derived,” he explained to the regarding Thomas Russo, professor and chief of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo in New York.
“HELLHOUND”
The only peculiarities that the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 strains seem to present at the symptomatological level are the appearance of loss of appetite, hoarseness and tachycardia.which were not as frequent in other subvariants of Ómicron.
Beyond this, the symptoms are still typical of more common respiratory viruses, such as those that cause colds or the flu, making the disease difficult to distinguish. It is also worth noting that these COVID lineages seem to have an easier time overcoming immunity previously acquired through the vaccine or previous infection, something that partly explains their high relative ineffectiveness.
“NIGHTMARE”
Specific, the XBB is a recombinant of the BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.7 sublines5, detected in 35 countries in October, many of them Asian. In early October, XBB had a prevalence of 1.3%. Some early trials reported some risk of increased clinical severity and risk of reinfection from Singapore and India and other countries.
“There has been a large increase in the prevalence of XBB in regional genomic surveillance, but it has not yet been consistently associated with an increase in new infections,” the report states, continuing: “While more studies are needed, but the data The current findings do not suggest that there are substantial differences in disease severity for XBB infections.” In this frame, Although more contagious, “Nightmare” does not necessarily generate more serious symptoms of the disease and the symptoms do not vary too much with respect to cases caused by other strains of COVID.
However, “there is preliminary evidence pointing to an increased risk of reinfection compared to other circulating sublineages.” “Cases of reinfection were mainly limited to those with initial infection in the pre-Omicron period. So far, there are no data to support escape from recent immune responses induced by other lineages,” the paper closes.
