"This latest covid variant could be the best yet at evading immunity" wapo's free article

[orleans]

"this article is free to access
The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service."


https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/08/25/covid-variant-ba-2-86-pirola/

A highly mutated form of the coronavirus that threatens to be the most adept yet at slipping past the body’s immune defenses is capturing the attention of virologists and health officials.

While only about a dozen cases of the new BA.2.86 variant have been reported worldwide — including three in the United States — experts say this variant requires intense monitoring and vigilance that many of its predecessors did not. That’s because it has even greater potential to escape the antibodies that protect people from getting sick, even if you’ve recently been infected or vaccinated.

The latest variant does not appear to make people sicker than earlier iterations of the virus; antiviral treatments should still work against it and tests should still detect it, according to a risk assessment published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s too soon to know whether the updated booster formula expected to come out next month that targets a different subvariant would be effective against this highly mutated one.

If this feels like déjà vu, it should.

After igniting a global explosion of cases in the winter of 2021-2022, the highly contagious omicron variant spawned a slew of immune-evading descendants. Most fade into irrelevance. Others, such as the XBB lineage accounting for most U.S. cases this year, outcompete the rest with their transmissibility and ability to infect — and reinfect. Nearly every announcement of a new variant came with reassurance from public health officials that it did not cause more severe illness.

(more at link)

[underpants]

1. Your subject line drew me in.

[orleans]

5. it's the article's headline nt

[Mariana]

9. Even the headline contains a "could be".

It "Threatens to be" and "has even greater potential" and "does not appear" etc. etc. etc.

[woodsprite]

2. We'll, I'm vaxed, and whatever one was floating around FL

Last week, I caught it. It either came from FL or the cruise ship my son and his fiancé disembarked from. Actually think my whole family got it, but mines probably hanging on because my immune system isn’t as strong as it could be yet - even 18 mo out of cancer treatment.

As soon as I get over this, I’m getting the latest version of the vaccine. My dr wanted me to hold off until fall.

[orleans]

6. when did you get the last shot? immunity wears down with time.

hope you feel better real soon

[Dorian Gray]

10. You definitely have covid now?

The latest shot won't be available until September, which is why your doctor probably told you to hold off.

I would talk to your doctor again. It is safe to get the vaccine after having covid, but it may behoove you to wait three- six months once you clear it from your system. Your body will have immunity from this infection which SHOULD protect you for a few months. And then if you get the booster, you can prolong waning immunity throughout the winter.

The problem with immunity is that it wanes quite quickly, and boosters probably will only be available annually. So maximizing the immunity would benefit everyone.

(But talk to your doctor about this. Don't trust me, a stranger on a message board. There are a TON of mixed messages out there, and it's best to talk to a trusted doctor about all of this.).

[Celerity]

3. Even if variants are adept at escaping antibodies to enter cells, those antibodies are just the

front lines of the immune system, which has other mechanisms to fight off the virus and keep the infection less severe. It’s like a teenager who can sneak past a bouncer to get into a club but gets thrown out by security before causing trouble. When omicron struck, a huge swath of the country lacked immunity because they never had covid or had not been vaccinated — but that’s no longer the case.

“Nearly all the U.S. population has antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 from vaccination, previous infection, or both, and it is probable that these antibodies will continue to provide some protection against severe disease from this variant,” the CDC said in its risk assessment of BA.2.86 this week. “This is an area of ongoing scientific investigation.”

[Dorian Gray]

11. Yes!

We had a friend staying with us for a week. 2 days after she left, she tested positive. Nobody in our family got it.

Varying degrees of immunity are going to protect more people now than in the past. So while this variant may evade immunity more adeptly, I think we will see more and more households get one or two cases while everyone else stays healthy. (More like a common cold or flu.) If you are immunocompromised, take extra precautions as cases go up!

[localroger]

4. Vaxed and boosted, I still got it right before Christmas

This time I got the long COVID. I have burned through 40 years of accumulated sick time since the beginning of the year, and am only now getting to the point where I can regularly work a whole 8 hour day. Generally at a certain point I belch a bit, then if I keep exerting myself I get nauseous and then without much more warning vomit. Found out the hard way vomiting in a coworker's garbage can in early January. A few other symptoms too. But the "post exertional malaise" has been the worst and is only now starting to fade. Last thing I need is ANOTHER variant.

[GPV]

8. So sorry to hear!

[localroger]

12. I'm alive and I'm not in an ICU. So I'm not complaining. But thanks. /nt

[Wednesdays]

7. "...does not appear to make people sicker than earlier iterations of the virus..."

That may not matter to the unvaxxed.