Emergence of new subvariants of Ómicron and their ‘post-COVID’ sequelae in older adults is a concern

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has announced that a new subvariant of COVID-19 called EG.5.1, also a descendant of the Omicron variant, is circulating in the UK and has accounted for one in every seven new cases.

According to the latest data, 14.6% of the infections registered in the country are linked to “Eris”, also known as EG.5.1, making it the second most common infection in the country after Arcturus XBB.1.16.

Across the Atlantic in the United States, the growth of new sublines of coronaviruses has also been observed. According to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), EG.5.1 became the dominant subvariant in the US last week, replacing the XBB subvariant.

For that matter, a pulmonologist from Formosa Jose Manuel Widow claim Morning From the last week of July to the first week of August, the new subvariant “grew very rapidly compared to the pandemic, which showed a slow increase in cases,” according to information from the UK, US and mainland Asia, and the virus Symptoms can be similar to flu or cold.

He mentioned that “this subvariant is identical to the previous virus, Arcturus,” and asserted that its incidence was “not more severe” than that of the previous virus, nor did it result in more hospitalizations. However, he cautioned that “as with any new variant, its sequence has changed and hospitalizations among older adults have increased in the UK and US.”

Therefore, Viudes guarantees that thanks to the new sub-variant, “The world will have to produce new vaccines”and the bivalent vaccine, originally considered the “last generation,” had to be modified because “new variants exhibited genetic modifications.”

Next, doctors believe, according to what was published in the journal Nature, “we will have to adopt a vaccination schedule similar to that of influenza, or perhaps more complex, every six months.”

In this sense, professionals should assess that a new bivalent vaccine against Omicron should be applied every six months. But he explained that this step was taken not because the new subvariant would produce a more severe condition, but because it affects older people and because it could cause “post-COVID” symptoms.

“There will be no more hospitalizations or higher death rates, but we will have a complex ‘post-coronavirus’ periodthe medical community has yet to find a solution for patients with this syndrome, especially those with chronic fatigue and non-specific symptoms from a neuropsychiatric point of view, such as “mental clouds” or intellectual lethargy,” explains Viudes This newspaper..

The expert also said NASA, which invests more than $20 billion a year, decided to work with Germany, Israel and the United States to create “a global map that includes more rural areas and less populated areas.” population, because new zoonotic pathogens such as swine flu, bird flu and COVID-19 will emerge from these places and all countries, including Argentina, will conduct monthly global checks to avoid letting this happen again . “

He said the process would include validating existing strains and possible new sub-variants, and that if cases of any variant were observed to grow by more than 5% per week, Containment measures to continue for another two weeks if cases and hospitalizations risethen samples of the fastest-growing virus will be taken to make “minor genomic changes” to the vaccine.

In another order, the experts noted that “the only remaining vaccines against COVID-19 are those from Moderna and Pfizer” because they are messenger RNA (mRNA) and “they are the only ones that can be modified within a few weeks.” vaccine. “

“Currently, the new bivalent vaccine is being used globally, and that’s what we have in Argentina. Because of the ‘post-coronavirus’ side effects, we are able to get a vaccine against COVID-19 every six months.” A vaccine, that would be a very good thing,” he said.

Finally, José Viudes suggests Older people maintain the habit of washing hands and using chin straps If you must go to a place with a large flow of people, you have to wait until the end of winter, the season with the highest incidence of respiratory diseases.