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BA.2.86

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BA.2.86 is an Omicron subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. BA.2.86 is notable for having more than thirty mutations on its spike protein.[1] The subvariant, which was first detected in a sample from 24 July 2023,[2] is of concern due to it having made an evolutionary jump on par with the evolutionary jump that the original Omicron variant had made relative to Wuhan-Hu-1, the reference strain first sequenced in Wuhan in December 2019.[3][4][5][6] It is a mutation of BA.2, itself a very early mutation in the Omicron family.[4] BA.2.86 was designated as a variant under monitoring by the World Health Organization on 17 August 2023.[7] The variant was nicknamed Pirola by T. Ryan Gregory, although no official sources use this name.[8]

Affected countries

BA.2.86 was first reported by Denmark and Israel.[1][9] On 18 August 2023, when only six cases had been reported from four countries (Denmark, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States), the British healthcare authorities noted that its almost simultaneous appearance in several countries still operating detailed genomic surveillance indicated that it likely already was spreading more widely internationally,[9] a view also shared by other experts.[10] There has been an overall significant decrease in sequencing (ten times as many samples were uploaded to GISAID in August 2022 compared to July 2023), reducing the possibility of tracking variants globally.[1][3]

As of 30 August, 24 cases of BA.2.86 had been detected in Canada, Denmark, Israel, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States (three states, including one detected in an airport in a traveller who had just arrived from Japan).[11] As of 2 September, it had also been detected in wastewater in a number of places where not yet confirmed directly in samples from people, including one U.S. state (earliest U.S. detection in a wastewater sample from late July),[3][12] Switzerland (where it made up c. 2% of coronavirus particles in a wastewater sample from one region in early August),[3][13] Norway,[14] Germany, Spain, Thailand (detection in a wastewater sample from late July)[15][11] and Hong Kong.[16]

Immunity, contagiousness and virulence

Initially it was feared that BA.2.86 would be able to partially evade earlier immunity.[1][3][17] However by November evidence indicated that it was not resistant to existing antibodies.[18] The CDC and WHO assessed that the "public health risk posed by this variant is low compared with other circulating variants".[19] Moderna and Pfizer have stated that their COVID-19 vaccines targeted at the omicron variant remain effective against BA.2.86 [20] and Novavax has stated its updated protein-based COVID-19 vaccine appears effective against "Pirola" as well.[21]

As of late August, there had been too few known cases over a relatively short period to accurately evaluate its symptoms and severity,[1] but there were indications that it may be similar to other circulating variants: In three early cases from Denmark and one from Canada, the local authorities reported that symptoms had been similar to those typically seen in COVID-19,[11] none of the small number of globally known cases were reported to have died,[22] and in parts of the U.S. where it had been detected there had not been a disproportionate increase in hospitalizations.[3]

Initial lab results from China and Sweden indicate that the variant is neither as contagious nor immune-evasive as some scientists had feared, and is no longer regarded as "the second coming of Omicron". The Variant Technical Group of the UK's Health Security Agency has as of September not reclassified it from a variant being monitored to one of concern.[23]

In November, the proportion of cases involving the variant was increasing in the United States, but the variant did not appear to be causing an increase in cases or hospitalizations.[19]

Nomenclature

Some news media have used the colloquial name "pirola" to describe the BA.2.86 variant.[24][25] The name is reported to have been created by a social media user by combining the names of the Greek letters pi and rho, which follow the letter omicron in the Greek alphabet.[26]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Risk Assessment Summary for SARS CoV-2 Sublineage BA.2.86 | CDC". www.cdc.gov. 23 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants". World Health Organization. 17 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "This latest covid variant could be the best yet at evading immunity". Washington Post. 25 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Highly mutated COVID virus variant BA.2.86 showing up in multiple countries". CBC. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  5. ^ https://virological.org/t/selection-analysis-identifies-significant-mutational-changes-in-omicron-that-are-likely-to-influence-both-antibody-neutralization-and-spike-function-part-1-of-2/771
  6. ^ https://karger.com/che/article/66/1-2/3/78103/SARS-CoV-2-Lineages-and-Sub-Lineages-Circulating
  7. ^ "COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update (Edition 156 published 17 August 2023)" (PDF). World Health Organization. 17 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  8. ^ https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/kraken-pirola-who-comes-nicknames-covid-19-variants
  9. ^ a b "Risk assessment for SARS-CoV-2 variant V-23AUG-01 (or BA.2.86)". UK Health Security Agency. 18 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  10. ^ "New Covid variant causing concern among scientists detected in London". The Guardian. 18 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  11. ^ a b c "New COVID variant BA.2.86 in at least four states — what to know about the highly mutated strain". CBS News. 30 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  12. ^ "New BA.2.86 COVID variant detected in NYC wastewater". NBC New York. 29 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  13. ^ "Pirola, la variante ha "40 mutazioni e due da monitorare". Gli esperti: "Potrebbe essere un Covid diverso"". www.ilmessaggero.it. August 28, 2023.
  14. ^ "Ny koronavirusvariant påvist i Norge i Norge". Norwegian Institute of Public Health. 30 August 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  15. ^ Wannigama, Dhammika Leshan; Amarasiri, Mohan; Phattharapornjaroen, Phatthranit; Hurst, Cameron; Modchang, Charin; Chadsuthi, Sudarat; Anupong, Suparinthon; Miyanaga, Kazuhiko; Cui, Longzhu; Fernandez, Stefan; Huang, Angkana T; Ounjai, Puey; Tacharoenmuang, Ratana; Ragupathi, Naveen Kumar Devanga; Sano, Daisuke (November 2023). "Tracing the new SARS-CoV-2 variant BA.2.86 in the community through wastewater surveillance in Bangkok, Thailand". The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 23 (11): e464–e466. doi:10.1016/s1473-3099(23)00620-5. ISSN 1473-3099.
  16. ^ "Latest Situation of COVID-19 Activity (as of Sep 6,2023)" (PDF).
  17. ^ Reddy, Sumathi (28 August 2023). "This Fall's Covid Variant Might Really Be Different". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  18. ^ "The highly mutated SARS-CoV-2 variant BA.2.86 is still neutralized by antibodies in the blood". Nature. 2023-11-21. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-03376-w.
  19. ^ a b "11-27-2023 Update on SARS CoV-2 Variant BA.2.86 | CDC". www.cdc.gov. 2023-11-27. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  20. ^ Constantino, Annika Kim (2023-09-06). "Moderna, Pfizer say updated Covid vaccines were effective against highly mutated BA.2.86 variant in trials". CNBC. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  21. ^ Johnson, Arianna. "What To Know About Rapidly Spreading 'Pirola' Covid Variant BA.2.86—And If Vaccines Offer Protection". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
  22. ^ "COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update (Edition 158 published 1 September 2023)" (PDF). World Health Organization. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  23. ^ "Early lab tests suggest new Covid-19 variant BA.2.86 may be less contagious and less immune-evasive than feared". CNN. 3 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  24. ^ Looi, Mun-Keat (2023-08-24). "Covid-19: Scientists sound alarm over new BA.2.86 "Pirola" variant". BMJ. 382: 1964. doi:10.1136/bmj.p1964. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 37620014.
  25. ^ Browne, Grace (11 September 2023). "Yes, There's a New Covid Variant. No, You Shouldn't Panic". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 2023-09-13.
  26. ^ Hassan, Beril Naz; Hewitt, Sian (2023-09-07). "What is Pirola? Updated vaccine to counter Covid variant detected in UK and globally". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  • Outbreak map with locations of the first 23 positive samples chronologically
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