Data on the Pirola variant (BA.2.86) of covid collected in the UK “suggest established community transmission”. The variant appears transmissible, but there is still a lack of data and certainties on the possible severity of the symptoms caused and on the hypothesis of an ‘advantage’ of Pirola compared to the other variants.
A very partial first picture is linked to the case of an outbreak recorded in a nursing home in Great Britain – as of September 5, Pirola had been intercepted in 28 samples, 22 from guests of the facility and 6 among the staff, out of a total of 43 positives sequenced – is “an early indicator that the variant, contrary to recent laboratory data suggesting lower infectivity in vitro, may be transmissible enough to impact in close contact environments.” This is what the experts of the British technical group point out in an update on the variants circulating in the country, published by the UK Health Security Agency (Ukhsa).
The authors take stock of the information available also in the light of the outbreak detected in the nursing home, characterized by a high rate of infection. In fact, out of 34 cases of BA.2.86 confirmed in England, 28 are related to this unique epidemic in the structure of the East of England. The other 6 were identified through routine surveillance (4 of these in London) and none were found to be connected or had a history of recent travel. Of the total of 34 cases, 5 were hospitalized, and no Covid deaths were reported among them. Meanwhile, what experts call “a slow and continuous accumulation of cases globally” of the new highly mutated variant continues.
That there may be “established community transmission of BA.2.86 in the UK” is based on the detection of multiple unrelated cases in different UK regions, with no travel links or relationships between virus genomic data. This element, however, “does not confirm that BA.2.86 has an advantage in terms of growth in the United Kingdom compared to other circulating variants”, the experts point out. And Pirola’s potential impact on the UK population after several vaccines and waves of infections cannot be extrapolated from the available data, they point out. There are signs of increased transmission in the country, but, it is still specified, “we cannot confirm that BA.2.86 is contributing”. Furthermore, the number of cases “is not sufficient to make an assessment of the outcome or severity”.
The outbreak in the nursing home was reported on August 21 to Ukhsa, with reports of an increase in cases and greater severity than in previous outbreaks in the facility. 57.6% of guests who tested positive were symptomatic, one was hospitalised. The operators have all recovered without any hospitalization.
#Pirola #covid #variant #infections #symptoms #news #Great #Britain