Xi'an and Beijing have confirmed one after another within 24 hours!Omikon is now a new branch: BA.5 "retrieves" into the lung ability, or improves the intensive rate →

In the near future

In Europe and the United States, it is gradually becoming dominant strains

Omikon BA.5 branch has appeared in China

New branches or "regaining" the ability to infect the lungs

Or increase the severity rate

New poison strains land in Beijing, Xi'an

Caused a gathering epidemic

On the evening of July 5th, Xi'an held a press conference on the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia. The strains that caused the recent round of the new round of epidemic were Omicron mutant BA.5.2 branch.

According to Xi'an's notification, most of the positive infected people currently discovered are related to waste recycling personnel or their relevant personnel. Most of the positive infected people have the history of contact and living together.

On the afternoon of the 6th, Beijing also reported at the press conference of the new crown pneumonia. After gene sequencing, the three infected viruses reported yesterday belonged to the BA.5.2 branch of the Omikon mutant strain.

Within 24 hours, two large cities with a resident population of more than tens of millions have reported this new strain successively.

Some positive infections have appeared in Shanghai in the past two days, and citizens are also very concerned about whether they are BA.5 strains. Today, Shanghai's release also responded to netizens in the comment area:

In addition to the faster spread and higher virus load, industry experts told reporters that compared with the previous mutant strains of Omikon, the new branch of the Omikon mutant strain has an invasion of the lungs and has a strong immune immune. New situation of escape ability.

"So far the worst mutation strain"

BA.5 Stir the global epidemic

The new crown Omir Rong mutant plant BA.4/BA.5 subtype was first discovered in South Africa in January and February this year, and was included in the monitoring list of the World Health Organization (WHO) in March and was prevented by European disease prevention and prevalence. The control center is specified as a focus of variant.

Since June, BA.4/BA.5 has become the main popular strains of South Africa, Portugal, Britain, Israel, Mexico and other countries at a rapid speed.

The latest analysis of the global virus gene sharing database (GISAID) shows that BA.5 is currently ranked first in Omikonia, and the proportion has shown a rapid increase. The World Health Organization mentioned in the Global New Crown Epidemic Weekly on June 29 that BA.4/BA.5 has replaced the previous BA.2 to become the major poison strains in the world, and the number of residents in some countries has surged.

Recently, Professor Sun Yamin and his team produced by the Nankai University Public Health and Health Research Institute completed the completion of a new crown virus mutant monitoring website, which can monitor the growth trend of different mutations in real time and make early warning.

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Sun Yamin told reporters that from the perspective of mutant monitoring data, BA.5 has been discovered in South Africa, due to the L452R mutation that is easy to cause immune escape (L452 mutations into important mutations in Delta mutation) During the month to April, it grew significantly in South Africa and became the main popular plants in the local area. Since April 2022, BA.5, BA.4 and BA.2.12.1 have a strong growth momentum in most countries around the world. Taking the United States as an example, in June 2022, the proportion of cases caused by BA.5 in all cases increased at a rate of more than 10 percentage points per week.

At present, BA.5's sweeping speed is still accelerating. On July 5, the relevant data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BA.4/BA.5 accounted for 70%of the total number of new crown virus infections. Among them, the case of BA.5 infection accounted for 53.6%of the new crown virus infection in the United States, and officially became the main strain that caused new crown pneumonia in the United States.

Eric Topol, the director of the SCRIPPS Research Institute (SCRIPPS Research), is a medical expert who has long been concerned about the new crown epidemic. The worst version in the plant. It has reached a new level that has existed widely immune escape, and enhanced the infection, far exceeding the Omikon mutant strains we have seen before. "

"Retos" into the lungs

BA.5 may increase the severe disease rate

Due to most of the infection of the respiratory tract, the infections of Omikon's earlier branch (BA.1, BA.2) were mostly mild. New recent studies have found that BA.5 branches can infect alveolar cells.

A study jointly published by 27 scientific research units including the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and the Institute of Sciences in Israel, and BA.4 and BA.5 have a stronger infection with human alveolar cells than BA.2.

Why can the Omikon variants recover the lung infection ability that had been lost before?

Li Kefeng, an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center, explained that this is related to a protein TMPRSS2 on the surface of human cells. This protein exists on the surface of the alveolar cells and whether it can be infected with the lungs depends on whether this protein can be used well. Omikon's previous branch could not be combined with TMPRSS2, and now the binding force of BA.5 on TMPRSS2 has increased, and then infected the lungs.

Many studies have shown that TMPRSS2 is considered by the industry to be the potential target for treating influenza virus and coronary virus infections. This transgender protein "releases", the virus can enter the host cells through membrane fusion.

The mutation of BA.5 has re -opened the molecular mechanism of "membrane fusion". The animal test of the aforementioned research also proves that BA.5 is more pathogenic than BA.2. This conclusion can be verified to a certain extent. Data recently showed that with the increase of the BA.5 infected person, 170 of the newly crown patients in Israel were severe, an increase of 95.4%over a week ago.

Facing a new branch of mutation

what should we do?

For BA.4 and BA.5, Topol's suggestion is to wear high protection masks (N95/KN95); maintain social distance; vaccination vaccine enhanced needle.

According to the documents of the US Disease Control and Prevention Center, the fourth dose of vaccine over 55 years of age can be vaccinated, and the risk of death and death can be reduced by 4 times on the basis of 2 or 3 doses. Enhanced needle.

Another key question is: In the face of BA.5 with strong immune escape ability, do we have to wait for the development of specific vaccines for BA.5?

The biggest problem is "time". Omikon BA.1 strengthened the research and development of the needle for more than 7 months. When it was developed, it was already when the BA.1 vaccine had been severely escaped by BA.5.

Similarly, what is concerned about BA.5 now, no one can ensure that after the vaccine for BA.5 is developed, what will the mainstream strains look like at that time?

However, Trevor Bedford, an expert in virus evolution, supports the research and development of the BA.5 vaccine. He said on the social platform that although there is no doubt that the new crown virus will continue to evolve, the most new strain is likely to be in BA.4 On the basis of/5, the development of BA.4/5 specific vaccines is necessary and sustainable.

NOVAVAX, a US vaccine R & D company, predicts that in the fourth quarter of this year, the new crown vaccine tailored to Omikon BA.4 and BA.5 mutant strains.

In addition, Topol also pointed out again that the development of mouth -nose inhalation vaccine is very important for inducing mucosal immunity, thereby blocking the transmission chain at the beginning of the infection. And this is what we lack at present.

This article is comprehensive from: Yangguang.com, Surging News

Related author: Liu Dong

WeChat editor: Jiasinmin

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