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Another Omicron sub-variant has been detected in India. It was marked with the symbol BA.2.75 and named Centaurus. It is too early to consider it particularly dangerous, but some scientists believe the number of mutations detected in it may suggest that it may elude our immune system more than the currently dominant sub-variant BA.5.
- BA.2.75 is another Omicron sub-variant, it was detected a month ago in India and has already been found in 10 countries around the world
- The World Health Organization reassures that it’s too early to say whether BA.2.75 is likely to cause serious disease
- Scientists, however, pay attention to the number of changes in its protein. They can make it more dangerous than the previous sub-options
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
A new Omicron sub-variant appeared in India
The World Health Organization announced that it is closely following another Omicron sub-variant BA.2.75, which is mainly spreading in India.
So far, BA.2.75 has been found in around 10 countries. As noted by WHO’s Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, it has not yet been identified as a Variants of Concern (VOC). It is not yet known for its ability to transmit more quickly, cause disease to become severe, or avoid the barrier of our immunity.
However, it was included in the list of monitored sub-variants (VOC lineages under monitoring VOC-LUM).
However, some experts are already concerned. Dr. Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, noted that mutations in the new sub-variant “may make its immune escape capacity greater than BA.5 and BA.4”.
They are now the world’s dominant sub-variants of the Omicron, far more than elusive of immunity, acquired through both vaccination and prior infection.
New sub-variant – what is known about it?
The new Omikron BA.2.75 sub-variant was first detected in India in early June. It has also appeared in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Japan and the United Kingdom. He was named by scientists Centaurus (Centaur).
As Dr. Topol wrote, he has eight mutations other than the BA.5 sub-variant, responsible for the current increase in COVID-19 cases worldwide. Earlier, Topol wrote that “the BA.5 sub-variant of the Omicron is the most dangerous version of the virus we have encountered so far”.
Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London’s Department of Infectious Diseases, noted that none of the detected changes in BA.2.75 were individually worrying, but that “when they all appear, things change”.
In his opinion, attention should be paid to its “apparent rapid growth and wider geographic scope”.
“Too early to worry”
The subject was also dealt with by prof. Agnieszka Szuster-Ciesielska z The Department of Virology and Immunology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin.
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«The new sub-variant has eight additional spike protein mutations compared to BA.2, its parent strain. The location of these mutations raises scientists’ concern that BA.2.75 may be able to escape the resistance humans have built up against BA.2. In other words, someone infected with BA.2 can re-enter Covid-19 if they come in contact with BA.2.75. The fact that BA.2.75 was able to spread to at least ten different regions of India, a country that has already experienced the BA.2 wave, seems to confirm BA.2.75’s ability to avoid resilience, ”she wrote on Facebook.
“World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan has suggested it is too early to say whether BA.2.75 can cause serious infections,” she added.
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