What advice do experts have for dealing with new variants of coronavirus such as EG.5? | Ecuador| News

Although the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) has confirmed the existence of the EG.5 coronavirus variant in Ecuador, experts have given their opinions and recommendations.

MSP mentioned that three cases of this new variant appeared in Pichincha Province, which has attracted the attention of the World Health Organization (WHO), and there have been increases in cases in countries such as Canada and Colombia.

Paul Cárdenas, a researcher at the Institute of Microbiology at the University of San Francisco Quito (USFQ), mentioned that EG.5 was detected a few weeks ago and three cases have been registered in Pichincha since July, but it is still Is a variant and does not replace the previous version, the main version since April is still XBB.1.5.

Francisco Pérez, undersecretary for health surveillance, control and prevention at the Ministry of Health, said the main variant is XBB.1.5.

The EG.5 variant of SARS-CoV-2 is present in these American countries

The World Health Organization (WHO) has specified that XBB.1.5 is a recombinant of two BA.2 sublines and has been reported in 38 countries.

Another variant with a higher number of mutations, XBB.2.86, has not been detected in the country, experts said.

He explained that EG.5 does not have any different clinical or severe features than before, but, like all variants that change, they somehow evade the immune system and reinfect more often.

Internal medicine specialist and university professor Gabriela Zambrano believes XBB.1.5 is as common as the common cold.

EG.5 variant of SARS-CoV-2 known, one case in Ecuador

“That’s why it’s important to get updated vaccines against new variants. In this case, the bivalent vaccine has arrived in the country, so be careful because more up-to-date vaccines will be available in October,” said Cardenas, who Refers to the dates that Ecuador has seen since last month – vaccinations.

Dr. Esteban Ortiz points out that EG.5 is also known as Eris.

He cited data from the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) showing that EG.5 was responsible for 20.6% of COVID-19 cases in the country as of the third week of August, beating out other variants such as FL.1.5.1.

“Symptoms are similar to those of other omicron subvariants and mainly affect the upper airway. However, people over 65 years old or with compromised immune systems are at higher risk for severe infection,” Ortiz said.

Last July, 262,080 doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech bivalent vaccine arrived in the country. They are then distributed to the nine Regional Coordinating Centers of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) at the national level.

The EG.5 variant of coronavirus mainly infects the elderly and people with pre-existing diseases. How to take care of yourself?

Health Minister José Ruales said last week that some 60,000 people had received the vaccine.

Currently, health personnel, the elderly, people with pre-existing diseases, and vulnerable patients are priority groups for receiving bivalent vaccines.

Zambrano argues that vaccination should be encouraged and expanded to the general population, with a bivalent vaccine that does protect against this variant, even in private. (Yo)