Not Just Delta, Experts Worried About New Coronavirus Variants Emerging



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The coronavirus pandemic continues to continue in the United States and around the world. The variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 are now the dominant forms transmitted in places where epidemics are active. Are we ready for new variations that continue to control us? Without more vaccinations, experts fear we will see more variants before the end.

Although the United States is slowly continuing its vaccination efforts, that has not been enough to fend off the delta variant, which is the dominant form of the coronavirus currently circulating in the United States, said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute. allergies and infectious diseases. that we would be “in trouble” in the fall unless a large chunk of unvaccinated people decide to get vaccinated in an interview published by Mcclatchy.

Some of the variants, including alpha and delta, are more transmissible than the original version of the coronavirus. This combined with the availability of sensitive people poses a problem. “What we’re seeing, because of this increase in transmissibility, and because we have about 93 million people in this country who are eligible to get vaccinated who don’t get vaccinated – is that you have a pool. important to vulnerable people, ”says Fauci.

One of the differences between the delta variant is that it appears to infect people who have been vaccinated. Although many remain asymptomatic, they have a high viral load which is “about 1,000 times higher in quantity,” according to Fauci, superior to the alpha variant, which was first identified in the UK and was the variant dominant in the United States before the delta variant.


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There is some concern about the lambda variant, which was first identified in Peru. Some cases have been reported in Texas and Florida. There is also delta plus, which is a version of delta and has been identified in the UK

The persistence of variant after variant makes some experts fear that this pattern will continue with the coronavirus. “We haven’t been able to stop this because we have other pandemics,” said Jonathan Eisen, a biologist at the University of California, Davis and studying the evolution of pathogens, for News week. “It can go on forever, leaving us continually trying to figure out what to do next.”

This is where the vaccine should have come in, at least for those in countries where it has become widely available. If a large enough proportion of the population is vaccinated, it could help stop the spread of the virus. Although the delta variant appears to be highly transmissible, more transmissible than previous forms of the virus, higher vaccination rates could shorten the infectious period and prevent an infected person from transmitting it to more people.

Going forward, we will need to be vigilant and keep an eye out for any new variations that may emerge. The new variants could mutate into versions of the coronavirus that could be different from what we are used to. “We’ve already seen that different variants have different abilities to enter certain types of cells, which could have an effect on the nervous system or lung function,” Eisen explains. “This is very worrying.”

While complete lockdowns are unlikely to happen again in the United States, restrictions such as masking are back. But experts still recommend that as many people as possible get vaccinated. “It’s going to be very difficult to prevent that from happening with masks and social distancing at this point,” said Preeti Malani, who is a physician and infectious disease researcher and health officer at the University of Michigan, at Newsweek. “Vaccines are the key, and reluctance to vaccinate is the barrier.”

The number of people with natural immunity after recovering from COVID-19 will not be enough either, Eric Vail, director of molecular pathology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told Newsweek. “At best, it’s now a third of the American population with natural immunity, and that may be an overestimate,” he says. “That won’t be enough to guarantee that Delta will be the last big variant.”

Fauci warns there could be more variations. “If another one comes along that has an equally high transmit capacity but is also a lot more serious, then we could really be in trouble,” Fauci told McClatchy. “People who don’t get the vaccine mistakenly think it’s all about them. But this is not the case. It is also for everyone.


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