Delta strains, we are no strangers to it.
Compared with the original strain, this mutant strain, which was first discovered in India, is like an open hanging, breaking through several layers of human defenses and completely tearing up the desire to "completely zero out the new crown with a vaccine".
But before anyone could figure out a countermeasure against Delta, a new mutant strain emerged.
On September 1, the World Health Organization announced that due to the recent strong momentum of the "MU Miao" strain, it will be included in the list of "variants of interest to be aware of".
The Miao strain is the fifth strain to be included in this list.
(In addition to Mu, it includes Eta, Iota, Kappa and lambda.)
On top of this list, there are also "high-concern variants of concerns.")
The Delta variant, which was listed as a "noteworthy" variant in early April this year, was upgraded to a "high-attention" variant on May 11.
WHO explains that the muse strain has a range of mutations, including potential immune evasion properties that could invalidate the vaccine.
Therefore, although the data is not grim at present, it is still necessary to study it further to better understand its characteristics.
As of 29 August, about 4,500 cases had been reported worldwide, and it was still less than 0.1% of the global cases.
But in some parts of South America, it even accounts for nearly 40%, and the prevalence rate is still increasing, and has invaded the United States, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries and regions...
This trend is still worth paying attention to...
In January 2021, the strain B.1.621 was first identified in Colombia.
After more than half a year of transmission, the infection of the Miao strain has accounted for 39% of infections in Colombia and 13% of Ecuador.
Local health officials said that this mutant strain has become the most popular variant of the new crown virus.
Moreover, the Miu virus has spread to more than forty countries and regions and has begun to spread.
It is true that with Delta "pearl jade in front", many experts feel that the Miao strain is not enough to worry about, and it is unlikely to surpass Delta.
(A contrast: Delta virus began to spread in the UK in April, and by the end of June, 99% of new confirmed cases in the UK were caused by delta virus.) ）
But in the United States, the Miu virus has become a newcomer that cannot be ignored.
The United States has reported 2,065 new infections with the Miu virus, even more than Colombia, accounting for 2% of all new infections.
(Areas where the miao poison strain was announced before September)
This figure is not remarkable, but it is worrying: if the Miao strain can kill a world in Delta's overwhelming domination, it is enough to prove that its contagiousness should not be underestimated.
What's more, the Miao poison strain is approaching us step by step.
After WHO announced that Miu virus was on the waiting list, Japan announced that they had actually detected Miu virus infection in June.
On 26 June, a passenger who arrived at Narita Airport tested positive for COVID-19 and had stayed in the UAE without any symptoms.
South Korea also announced at a regular press conference on September 3 that south Korea has found three confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia infected with the Miu virus for the first time.
According to reports, three cases are from Mexico, the United States and Colombia.
Taiwan Province of China announced on September 2 that a case of Miu virus infection had been detected in Taiwan.
China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced on September 3 that three confirmed cases of COVID-19 related to the Miu virus had been detected, two of whom arrived from Colombia in early June and one from the United States in late July.
Although, these cases found in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan are imported from abroad, not spread within china.
However, it is worth noting that among these confirmed patients, there are many patients who have been fully vaccinated.
For example, those diagnosed from the United States in Hong Kong have been fully vaccinated with two doses of BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine.
This means that the Miao strain is likely to have a higher vaccine tolerance ...
According to the World Health Organization, the Mullein strain contains mutations called E484K and N501Y.
Among them, E484K can help the variant escape antibody, allowing the virus to avoid the resistance of the immune system;
N501Y, on the other hand, changes the binding receptor of viral spikes, helping the variant spread more easily.
Of course, virology experts analyzed: "Mutations in the locus of the gene sequence of the strain do affect function, but because there are other locus mutations, the specific performance remains to be seen." ”
However, according to the preliminary results of the research group, the resistance of the miu strain to the vaccine is similar to that of beta strains, and the neutralization capacity in the serum of convalescent patients and vaccinators is reduced.
In addition, PHE, Public Health England, also states:
"Preliminary laboratory evidence suggests that vaccines are less effective at preventing muse strains."
Most of the people currently infected with the Miu virus found in the UK are young people in their 20s, and some of them have already received one or two doses of the vaccine.
This has also become a point of concern:
Although most studies of Miu strains to date have shown that there is no evidence that Miu strains will outperform delta variants in competition.
But what if there is a "cross infection" in a place where both the Miao strain and the Delta strain are rampant?
In July, a Belgian woman died after contracting two variants of the new crown, Alpha and Beta.
This is a dangerous signal: every time the new crown virus infects the human body, it is the result of the virus constantly copying itself, and each time it is copied, it must copy its own genome, and there may be small errors in the process of replication, so the new genome may be slightly different from the previous one, so it will mutate.
However, if different strains infect the same patient, there may be a recombinant exchange of two different strains during replication.
At that time, if there is really a new strain that gathers the strengths of each family, it will probably be another round of bloody rain...
It should be said that the Miao poison strain does not look as terrible as Delta so far, and there is no need to panic.
But people still need attention.
Because the virus changes all the time.
Ordinary people pay attention to protection when traveling, the state accelerates the popularization of vaccines, and researchers continue to sequence the virus in order to identify mutations and variants in a timely manner and prevent problems before they occur.
But at the end of the day, there is only one way for humanity to cope with the ongoing mutation of the virus: to contain the spread of the epidemic.
Reduce the number of coronavirus infections worldwide, because each new infection is an opportunity for the virus to mutate and change behavior...