Immunologist Zhemchugov considers a new variant of coronavirus with 30 mutations harmless
A new variant of the coronavirus BA.2.86 with more than 30 mutations is unlikely to pose a serious danger, says Vladislav Zhemchugov, doctor of medical sciences, a specialist in especially dangerous infections, an immunologist. In a conversation with Lenta.ru, he explained why SARS-CoV-2 continues to change.
“I think that it is not dangerous and will not threaten anything, because it is a reflection of a natural process. Mutations occur in the virus independently of anyone and nothing, every day there are a dozen of them, or even more. They simply do not list them all, they just suddenly take some, which, for example, is spreading the fastest. This is a natural process – the adaptation of viruses to changing conditions. If a new design turns out to be more progressive, for example, more contagious, more contagious, spreads faster, then it will displace all previous designs, which is now happening on the eve of the autumn-winter period, ”the specialist assessed the danger of the new option.
First of all, we need to look at lethality, how seriously ill, who is ill – small children, the elderly or people with immunodeficiency. It takes several months for this statistic to accumulate.
Earlier, the British Health Security Agency discovered a new variant of coronavirus BA.2.86 in the United Kingdom. Experts counted more than 30 mutations of the spike gene in him. According to The Guardian, for the first time this type of coronavirus was found in Israel. Then the variant was registered in Denmark and the USA.
On August 18, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it would monitor the spread of BA.2.86. Due to the large number of mutations, it was included in the list of “variants under observation.”
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