Omicron, easy to detect with a hospital test

• Ómicron The Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid confirms the first case in Spain

• Direct All the last hour of the coronavirus

Ómicron

has become the new challenge that

presents to the scientific community. The first 77 sequenced cases have alerted the

(WHO), which has described the presence of this new variant detected in

as "very high risk"

. However, experts ask for caution in the face of the lack of knowledge that exists. What they have already verified is that it is easy to detect with a

.

"Genomic sequencing is not necessary but it can be detected with the tests for the Alpha variant and that allows us to have a very fast detection system", confirms

, researcher at the Institute of Biomedicine of Valencia of the

and member of the team of

that does genomic surveillance and monitoring of new variants. This peculiarity will also allow it to be traced without added complications in the

, where, as confirmed yesterday in Valencia by the IATA-CSIC researcher

, no presence of Ómicron had yet been detected.

However, the genomic sequence is providing data on a variant that has become a '

' never seen before.

It presents up to 27 peak mutations compared to those already known, some of which nothing is known yet.

"We are concerned because we have seen many of them separately, but never all together," says Comas

"It has some associated with greater transmissibility and in others with the reduction of antibodies in our immune reaction to control the infection. In Ómicron there is what is called a

and we still do not know how they will all work together. Of some we don't even know anything, "explains the researcher.

Yesterday, the variant was detected in Spain.

Darío García de Viedma, responsible for genomic sequencing of Covid variants at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid, where she was diagnosed, explains that

.

Cristina G. Lucio reports.

For Comas, the speed with which it has been detected has been key to increasing surveillance: "South Africa has sounded the alarm very quickly and that will help us to be prepared. But we must see how it evolves."

And it is that he does not consider that the rapid growth it has had in South African regions such as the Gauteng province, where the positivity rate has increased fivefold in a week, can be conclusive.

"You have to analyze the contexts and, in this case, it seems that it has grown a lot and fast because it has not competed with other variants such as the Delta. In addition, it must be taken into account that where there has been a high percentage of the population had passed infection. These are two issues to evaluate, so we have to wait and see if it has the same trajectory in other countries ", argues the scientist. At the moment, there are already cases in the

,

,

and

.

In this caution, Comas uses the example of the

, the so-called South African

. "Beta was one that worried us a lot at the time but never took off beyond South Africa. Therefore, we must see what trajectory it follows in countries with different

, more vaccinated such as Spain, Portugal or the United Kingdom, with a lot of transmission, others with restrictions ... If it behaves the same, as happened with the Delta variant, that's when we can say if it is more transmissible or important, "he warns.

For now, what this researcher asks is that countries that quickly report new variants should not be "punished".

"You can control the population that comes from those places, there are means to do so, but if borders are closed, perhaps we are discouraging others from sounding the alarm when it happens to them and then we lose the advantage of being able to prepare," he reflects.

Is vaccination effective?

The other big question that Ómicron leaves in the air is how effective

against this new coronavirus. Comas is helped by the specialist in Preventive Medicine and Public Health of Fisabio,

. with whom he shared with other experts the first Conference of the Valencian Vaccine Research Program (ProVaVac). "We need more information that we will not have until there is a secondary transmission or it reaches the community. But, a priori, it

. It may lose a little effectiveness, but for that we recommend the third dose ".

That is something that not only occurs with this new variant, but has already been detected with the best known.

As Peiró explained, in six months the vaccines have lost their

in curbing transmission but continue to protect against gravity.

Specifically, he estimated that if the ability to reduce infections was 75-85%, it has now been reduced to 30-50%.

However, the development of the disease is mild, since if the protection against the development of a severe case was 85-95%, after six months it is 80-85%.

"That is why it is important to continue promoting vaccination and administering the third doses," he insisted.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Science and Health

• Covid 19

• Omicron variant

• Coronavirus

• HBPR

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