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In England, a country that has had great success with the vaccination campaign for the Sars-CoV-2 virus, the evolution of the “transformations” of these invisible health enemies is being followed with great attention. And we focus on two new strains: in addition to the Indian one, which seems to be characterized by a greater contagiousness, it is observed when it happens with a viral strain similar to these for the number of mutations, three.
All this while in Europe we are studying a variant that emerged in Cameroon. Obviously, neither the recommendations to get vaccinated nor the advice to limit possible infections have changed. But science and health care are continuing to observe how the virus can “transform”, in the hope of controlling the evolution of the situation and that vaccines are still able to protect against severe forms of disease even if induced by variants. Some data in this sense are very encouraging even if studies show that not all vaccines are protective against all variants.
The signals from the world
In the UK, while the Indian variant is being watched, scientists are studying a viral strain characterized by a triple mutation. At the moment the cases observed through the sequencing of the virus are few, but the attention threshold has risen considering the presence of a particular variation that could affect the response to drugs used for the treatment of the infection in the early stages, namely monoclonal antibodies .
In some ways it is a “deja vu” since similar mutations had already been observed a few months ago, but then they were thought to have disappeared. The fear is that the sum of the circulating variants, this specific variant is associated with the circulation of the South African and Indian ones, could represent a cause for concern in a phase characterized by reopening. In this sense, in short, the importance of studying the characteristics of the viruses that cause infections is confirmed: the emergence of the Indian variant has taught the British (and not only them). More is known about this: it is characterized by a sort of “recombination” between three different strains of the virus, with consequent variation in the characteristics of a virus that is now different from the one that was originally identified in Wuhan.
Regarding the Indian variant, in any case, there is a fact that must be emphasized in terms of prevention: According to research conducted in the United Kingdom, both the Pfizer and Astra-Zeneca vaccines are effective in blocking the forms of disease that lead to symptoms.
Obviously the data refer to the two doses: according to the survey, the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine, after two doses, is 88% in preventing symptomatic infections of the Indian variant and 93% in preventing symptomatic infections of the English variant. widespread. In the case of AstraZeneca, the efficacy drops but it is always significant: according to the experts, the difference could also be explained by a longer time required to reach the maximum defensive response after administration of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine, the second dose of which was made with a larger interval.
What do we know about the Cameroon variant
In this context, it is also necessary to reflect on a new variant, which was characterized by the acronym B.1.620. according to what the experts report, in a scenario in which the Sars-CoV-2 virus mutates quite frequently, according to the experts it should be carefully evaluated.
At the moment the data speak of identifications of this strain, probably originating in Cameroon even if it must be said that in Africa sequencing is extremely rare and therefore there is a margin of error, even in European countries. Precisely on this front, according to a scientific work published in Science, opportunities should also be offered to less developed countries, as well as providing vaccines, to encourage the development of research capable of better monitoring the changes in the Sars-CoV genetic heritage. -2.
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