CDC: omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 now accounts for 40.5 of all cases. Links everywhere.
- has pushed out BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 as the number one subvariants
The XBB subvariant, from which XBB.1.5 descends, is a recombinant of
two subvariants that descended from the BA.2 omicron subvariant. That
means it carries genetic data from two versions of the coronavirus that
originated from the BA.2 subvariant.
Regionally, XBB.1.5 now accounts for the majority of COVID-19 cases in
the northeast, identified as causing 75 percent of cases in New England
and in the New York tri-state area.
The omicron subvariants XBB and XBB.1 were first identified in India.
Some scientists, including Scripps Research Institute professor of
molecular medicine Eric Topol, have put forward the possibility that
XBB.1.5 could have mutated in New York.
Re-posting Covid update from December 15, 2022
*********************
The Atlantic Story On Covid
Covid variants:
The Atlantic story was written before Evusheld was taken off the market. Today, CNBC reported that the FDA took Evushel (Eli Lilly) off the market leaving only one in this sector: bebteloovimab (AstraZeneca).
For
the first couple of years of the coronavirus pandemic, the crisis was
marked by a succession of variants that pummeled us one at a time.
The
original virus rapidly gave way to D614G, before ceding the stage to
Alpha, Delta, Omicron, and then Omicron’s many offshoots.
But
as our next COVID winter looms, it seems that SARS-CoV-2 may be
swapping its lead-antagonist approach for an ensemble cast: Several
subvariants are now vying for top billing.
In the United States, BA.5—dominant
since the end of spring—is slowly yielding to a slew of its siblings,
among them BA.4.6, BF.7, BQ.1, and BQ.1.1; another subvariant, XBB,
threatens to steal the spotlight from overseas.
Whether
all of these will divvy up infections in the next few months, or
whether they’ll be pushed aside by something new, is still anyone’s
guess. Either way, the forecast looks a little grim.
None
of the new variants will completely circumvent the full set of immune
defenses that human bodies, schooled by vaccines or past infections, can
launch. Yet all of them seem pretty good at dodging a hefty subset of
our existing antibodies.For anyone who gets infected, such evasions
could make the difference between asymptomatic and feeling pretty
terrible. And for the subset of people who become sick enough to need
clinical care, the consequences could get even worse.
Some
of our best COVID treatments are made from single antibodies tailored
to the virus, which may simply cease to work as SARS-CoV-2 switches up
its form.
Past variants have already
knocked out several such concoctions—among them, REGEN-COV, sotrovimab,
and bamlanivimab/etesevimab—from the U.S. arsenal.
The
only two left are bebtelovimab, a treatment for people who have already
been infected, and Evusheld, a crucial supplement to vaccination for
those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised; both are still deployed in hospitals countrywide.
But
should another swarm of variants take over, these two lone antibody
therapies could also be obsolete within months, if not weeks.
“It
seems like the writing is on the wall,” says Erin McCreary, an
infectious-disease pharmacist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center. “I live constantly low-key worried that I’m not going to have an
active therapy for my patients, and I won’t be able to help them.”
All
of this bodes poorly for this winter and beyond. In the near term,
millions of immunocompromised people could be left without viable
options either to keep SARS-CoV-2 at bay or to temper its blaze once an
infection begins to burn. And that loss would set a troubling precedent
for seasons to come. The business end of the virus “is now adapting so
rapidly that I don’t know how it’s going to be possible for monoclonals
to keep up,” says Jeanne Marrazzo, an infectious-disease physician at
the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Experts may need to revamp the
strategies they use to bring new therapies to market—or find themselves,
once again, in a serious bind.
“I worry,” Marrazzo told me, “that we’re on a razor’s edge.”
