German Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach expressed his concern about a new variant of "Covid-19", so what is his name? When was it discovered? How easy is it to transmit? And what are its symptoms?
What is the name of the new mutant?
The name of the variant that has alarmed the German Minister of Health is "XBB 5.1" (XBB.5.1).
Die neue Variante XBB.1.5 lässt im Nordosten der USA die Krankenhauseinweisungen steigen.
Hoffentlich commen wir durch den Winter bevor eine solche Variante sich bei uns ausbreiten kann.
Wir überwachen, ob und wie stark XBB.1.5.
in Deutschland auftritt.
https://t.co/Ejn13yXVWC
— Prof.
Karl Lauterbach (@Karl_Lauterbach) January 4, 2023
When was the "XPP 5.1" variant discovered?
This variant of the Corona virus was discovered last October.
Where was this "XPP 5.1" variant discovered?
According to the available genetic analyzes of the "XBB 5.1" mutant, it is spreading mainly in the United States and Europe, and has already been detected in 29 countries.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that this variant represented about 40.5% of all new infections in the United States in the week before the end of the year.
Which group does the "XBB 5.1" mutant belong to?
The XBB 5.1 variant belongs to a subset of the Omicron variant that has been circulating since the end of 2021.
How easy is the XPP 5.1 variant to transmit?
Maria Van Kerkhove, a specialist in the “Covid-19” virus at the World Health Organization in Geneva, said yesterday, Wednesday, that the “XPP 5.1” mutant is transmitted more easily than any of the previously known mutant strains.
What are the symptoms of the "XBB 5.1" mutant?
According to the "Axios" website, there do not appear to be any additional symptoms of the "XPP 5.1" variant? Different from the normal symptoms of Corona.
A report by the BBC stated that the symptoms of the "XBB 5.1" mutant are similar to those of previous Omicron strains, and most people suffer from cold-like symptoms.
Symptoms of a cold:
Runny
Sore throat
Cough
Slight body aches or mild headache
sneeze
low fever
Is the "XPP 5.1" mutant more dangerous?
The "XBB 5.1" mutant had a mutation that helped it overcome the body's immune defenses, but this same property also reduced its ability to infect human cells, according to the BBC.
Professor Wendy Barclay of "Imperial College London" said that the "XPP 5.1" mutant has a mutation known as "F486P" (F486P), which restores this ability to bind to cells while continuing to evade immunity, and this makes it spread more easily. .
Barclay added that these evolutionary changes were "stepping stone" as the virus evolves to find new ways to bypass the body's defense mechanisms.
What did the German Minister of Health write about the "XBB 5.1" mutant?
"We hope to get through the winter before such a mutant spreads here as well," Lauterbach wrote in a tweet on Twitter this morning, referring to its spread in the northeastern United States.
He said this variant is responsible for the increase in hospital admissions in that region.
"We are monitoring whether the XBB 5.1 variant is present here in Germany and how strong it is," Lauterbach added.
How did the "XPP 5.1" variant appear?
Dr Ewan Harrison of the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge believes that the XBB 5.1 mutant may have emerged when a person was infected with two different types of Omicrons, in which part of the genome from one virus is linked with another part of another virus and then they are combined. Then they move on.