Don't forget COVID-19 Beta variant which may be more deadly

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Don’t forget COVID-19 Beta variant which may be more deadly

Don’t forget COVID-19 Beta variant which may be more deadly. The Delta variant is popular, but this neglected variant may be more deadly?

It has been almost two years since the new coronavirus was discovered at the end of 2019. Now the prevention and control of the epidemic is gradually normalizing, with few large-scale spreads, but small-scale outbreaks need to be prevented.

Recently, a new round of Delta variants infections occurred in many countries. The infected strain is the Delta (δ) mutant strain, but let’s not forget that there was a more “foreign” mutation at the end of last year. The “β mutant strain” is still watching us eagerly.

The beta COVID-19 variant, also known as B.1.351, was first discovered in South Africa at the end of 2020, setting off a second wave of COVID-19 infections worldwide. According to the latest data, people infected with beta new coronavirus variants have a much higher rate of severe illness and mortality than people infected with other new coronaviruses.

Some evidence shows that during the second wave of outbreaks in South Africa caused by beta new coronavirus variants, severe cases of covid-19 pneumonia are more common than the first wave. The first wave of epidemics is caused by SARS-CoV-2 (beta new coronavirus) The original strain of the body).

In order to determine whether the beta variant of the new coronavirus is related to the worsening of the disease, Laith Jamal Abu-Raddad, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Weill Cornell Medical College, conducted a study on people infected with the beta variant in early 2021.

During this period, two variants of the new coronavirus have spread around the world: α variants and β variants. Both of these viruses were discovered in the UK in 2020 and were also referred to as B.1.1.7. The team did not compare β variants with δ variants, although the δ variants are currently raging in most parts of the world and are also believed to be related to the increase in the rate of severe illness.

Don't forget COVID-19 Beta variant which may be more deadly Image source: Abu-Raddad, L. J. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.02.21261465 (2021)

The possibility of being infected with the β variant strain is 25% higher than that of people infected with the α variant strain, the possibility of requiring intensive care is 50% higher, and the possibility of death due to the β variant strain is higher 57%. Abu-Raddad said that these data are in line with current observations. As the number of beta variant infections has surged in Qatar, the number of acute care admissions has doubled, and the number of ICU admissions and deaths has quadrupled. Abu-Raddad said: “Obviously, we are discussing a more dangerous variant”

Don't forget COVID-19 Beta variant which may be more deadly
Image source: Abu-Raddad, L. J. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.02.21261465 (2021)

Waasila Jassat, a public health medical expert at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Johannesburg, South Africa, said that although the scale of the current study is small, it is very important because the conclusions of the study are derived from similar characteristics such as age and gender.

Comparison of the results of people infected with different variants. In Jassat’s study, people in the second wave of South Africa’s epidemic are about 30% more likely to die in hospital than the first. Determining the virulence of β variants will help predict its impact on the public health system.

With the spread of more transmissible δ variants, β is declining in many places where it once dominated, but Abu-Raddad pointed out that β seems to be more immune to vaccines and previous infections than other variants including δ. More resistant, it may start to wreak havoc again.

“We can never underestimate this virus.” Professor Abu-Raddad reminded.

(source:internet, reference only)

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