New Virus Variants of Covid-19: The Winter-Ssurge of the U.S. in the Light of the Pandemic

The United States has these Bq.1 and Bq. 1.1 as well as a few other ones. The XBB variant is increasing quickly in other countries and may be driving a new wave of cases in Singapore. Cases are also rising in Europe and the UK, where these variants have taken hold.

The Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital co-director believes that they are the same as the Scrabble variant, because they use high scores in the board game.

As the US moves into the fall, Covid-19 cases are dropping. Normally, that’s a reason to hope the nation could escape the last two winters that were caused by the Pandemic. But virus experts fear that the downward trend may soon reverse itself, thanks to this gaggle of new variants.

The BQs each caused just 6% of new infections in the US last week, but in recent weeks, the share of new Covid-19 infections caused by these viruses has doubled every six to seven days – a rapid rate of growth against BA.5, which is already a highly fit virus, says Dr. Anthony Fauci, who directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The updated bivalent booster vaccines and antiviral drugs like Paxlovid are expected to continue to be protective against severe outcomes from Covid-19 infections caused by the new variants.

Antibodies are a losing proposition for companies because it takes millions of dollars of investment to make them and because the virus is evolving so fast, they might be effective for only a few months.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/20/health/variants-covid-winter-surge/index.html

Multiple Omicron Viruses As Vaccines: Recent Data from the Joint Center for Disease Control (JACCD) at the Yale School of Public Health

Though they each descend from slightly different branches of the Omicron family tree, these new offshoots have evolved to share many of the same mutations, a phenomenon known as convergent evolution.

Some experts think this convergence means we’ve entered a new phase of the evolution of the virus, one that will see circulation of several variants at the same time.

Nathan is an associate professor of epidemiology and public health at the Yale School of Public Health.

convergent evolution can allow multiple lineages to get similar transmissibility levels versus a single new variant taking over.

This is what happens to most pathogens like the flu and rSv, according to the author. Most of the viruses circulating have high fitness because they have adapted well to human transmission.

The large mix of new variant is becoming more difficult for the World Health Organization to assess because countries are scaling back their health care.

We need to be ready for this. Countries need to be in a position to conduct surveillance, to deal with increases in cases and perhaps deal with increases and hospitalizations. There isn’t a change in severity yet. And our vaccines remain effective, but we have to remain vigilant,” she said.

The Omicron subvariant BA.5 is still the top spot in the US. The CDC said that it caused 68% of the new infections in the US last week, but it is quickly being lost to BQ. 1 and Bq. 1.1.

Fauci told CNN that most people feel that they will wind up being a substantial proportion and have bumped BA.5 off as the dominant variant.

The BA.4 and BA.5 have the same genes, but the differences are due to genetics. They have many parts of their genomes in common with that virus.

The changes aren’t as big as what happened when the first Omicron arrived in November. The strain of theviruses that came out of genetic left field left researchers and public health officials scrambling to catch up.

“We have a BA.5 bivalent updated vaccine as a booster that we’re pushing people to do. It is almost certain that it will have a fairly good degree of cross- protection against the BQ.1 and others, and yet the take-up of these vaccines, which is already in the middle of October, is disappointing.

The latest data from the CDC shows that 14.29 million people have gotten a new bivalent booster in the last six weeks. That’s less than 10% of the population that’s eligible to get one.

Vaccines, vaccines, and the Covid-19 response to the B.C.V. epidemic: is it going to get bigger than BA.5?

“It’s probably going to be significantly bigger than the BA.5 wave, at least that’s what I expect,” said Mark Zeller, a project scientist who monitors variants at the Scripps Research Institute. He doesn’t think the surge will reach heights of January’s Omicron wave.

The genetic changes these variants share appear to help them escape the immunity created by vaccines and past infections – a recipe for reinfections and breakthrough infections, particularly for people who haven’t had an updated booster.

People with immune function that has been blunted by drugs or age benefit most from the use of antibody therapies. These are the same people whose bodies don’t respond robustly to vaccines.

“So even if we got money today, it would take us many months to bring a monoclonal into the marketplace, and we don’t have the money today anyway,” Jha told CNN.

Some parts of the Covid-19 response could be patented, so they can leave the business of buying vaccines and therapies and be passed on to consumers and insurers. The process needs to be guided by the needs on the ground and realities of the virus, says Jha.

He says current realities require that the government continue to incentivize the production of new therapies, and he expects that the Biden administration will again try to ask Congress to pass more funding to do that.

Fleming’s warnings on antibiotic-resistant superbugs and the role of the world in combating malaria and HIV: Key lessons from 1950 to 2050

Alexander Fleming warned of this in 1945 in a lecture, and his warnings have proven prescient for decades. More deaths were caused by antibiotic-resistant infections in 2019 than either HIV or Malaria. That figure could reach 10 million per year by 2050 unless significant action is taken. Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The Pew Charitable Trusts indicates that COVID-19 has exacerbated the problem for a variety of reasons, including the widespread overuse of antibiotics early in the pandemic.

It might be tempting to draw reassurance from the speed with which scientists developed and deployed COVID-19 vaccines, and assume a new small-molecule antibiotic could be delivered just as quickly after the onset of a global superbug emergency, but that would be a mistake. Two key differences are worth highlighting.

There is no time to waste in the face of the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The global community needs to increase the attention, funding and action that is related to what is at stake in order to get the attention, funding and action that is needed.