The Dasa Integrated Health Network identified, this Wednesday (1/4), the first case of the XBB.1.5 variant in Brazil. The cover is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be the most transmissible to date, and is responsible for the new wave of Covid-19 being registered in the United States.
The sample was collected on November 9, 2022 in Indaiatuba, a city in the interior of São Paulo, 103 km from the capital. The laboratory performed genetic sequencing to determine which strain was causing the infection in the 54-year-old patient.
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The Secretary of State for Health of São Paulo has already been informed about the identification of the variant, but there was no increase in the rate of positive results for Covid-19 in the last week.
It is possible that the strain is circulating in the country unnoticed, as the year-end recesses can increase cases but delay new diagnoses.
mutations
XBB.1.5 is a version of XBB, a recombinant variant of Omicron that adds elements from BA.2.75 and BJ.1. Recombinant strains can arise when a person is infected by two different microorganisms that enter the same cell. In this situation, their genetic material can be randomly swapped pieces.
Brazilian biomedical doctor and researcher Mellanie Fontes-Dutra explains that XBB.1.5 presents mutations in an important region where the virus connects with cells, which increases its escape from the immune response of vaccines and the protection granted by previous infections.
“When we talk about defense escape, we must remember that this escape is partial because, in general, we are looking at neutralizing antibodies, and defenses go beyond that”, clarifies Mellanie in a post published on Twitter.
Greater transmissibility
Preliminary studies show that the new version of Ômicron may be even more transmissible than the previous ones, such as BQ.1.1, in high circulation in Brazil. It is not yet known whether XBB.1.5 can cause symptoms different from those seen in previous waves.
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“It is the most transmissible subvariant detected so far due to the mutations found inside it, which help cells adhere and give growth advantage”, detailed the WHO technical director, Maria Van Kerkhove, at a press conference this Wednesday (4). /1).
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