[ad_1]
Peru has by far the highest number of COVID deaths per capita. Per 100,000 inhabitants, 596 died from COVID. That’s almost double the next hardest-hit country, Hungary, which has 307 deaths per 100,000 population.
There are many reasons why Peru is doing so badly in the pandemic. They include a poorly funded and under-prepared health system with too few intensive care beds; slow vaccine deployment; limited testing capacity; a large informal economy (few could afford not to work); and overcrowded housing.
The country has also been beset by the lambda variant. Originally reported in the capital, Lima, in August 2020, in April 2021, it accounted for 97% of all sequences in Peru.
Lambda has now become a globetrotter. According to a recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO), it has been found in 29 countries. The report states, “Lambda has been associated with substantial rates of community transmission in several countries, with increasing prevalence over time alongside an increased incidence of COVID-19. “
On June 14, 2021, the WHO declared the lambda “global variant of interest”. Public Health England followed suit on June 23, naming it as a “variant under investigation” due to its “international expansion and several notable mutations.”
Of the eight confirmed cases of lambda in the UK, most have been linked to travel abroad.
What the evidence shows
An interesting variant is one that has mutations that are predicted or known to affect things such as transmissibility (how easily the virus spreads), disease severity, ability to evade immunity to infections or previous vaccines, or confuse diagnostic tests.
Many scientists talk about the “unusual combination” of mutations in lambda, which could make it more transmissible.
Lambda has seven mutations on the spike protein, the mushroom-shaped projections on the virus’s outer shell that help it attach to and invade our cells. These mutations can make it easier for lambda to bind to our cells and make it harder for our antibodies to attach to and neutralize the virus.
But it’s important to remember that neutralizing antibodies aren’t the only tool in the immune system’s toolkit – they’re just the easiest to study. T cells also play a vital role, so a handful of mutations – however unusual – might not be enough to allow lambda to completely bypass our immune system.
So what evidence do we have that these mutations make lambda more dangerous than the original coronavirus? Very little, it turns out.
There are no published studies on the lambda variant and just a handful of preprints – papers that have not yet been reviewed by other scientists (peer review) and published in a journal. .
A prepublication from the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University examined the effect of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against the lambda variant and found a two to three-fold reduction in vaccine-induced antibodies compared to the d virus. ‘origin.
In the scheme of things, this is not a massive loss of neutralizing antibodies. The researchers conclude that these mRNA vaccines are likely to remain protective against the lambda variant.
Researchers at the University of Chile studied the effect of the Sinovac vaccine (also known as “CoronaVac”) against the lambda variant. They also found a three-fold reduction in neutralizing antibodies compared to the original variant.
The fact that these two studies found that neutralization is at least partially preserved is promising, not least because it is only one facet of the immune response induced by vaccination.
According to PHE’s latest “risk assessment” (July 8) regarding lambda, there is no evidence of a country where lambda has supplanted delta. Studies are underway, but for now, the lambda remains an interesting variant rather than a worrying variant.
Tara Hurst, Senior Lecturer, Biomedical Sciences, Birmingham City University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
[ad_2]
Source link