Those variants that come from Africa: “vaccinate them to save us”

After many Variables From the Covid-19 serialized so far, here is the second coming directly from Africa: after Nigerian, the Cameroon variant has also been sequenced, and it is already prevalent in some European countries (albeit in low proportions) but not in Italy.

Here’s how the B.1620 came about

B.1620 (this is the recognition initials) has been identified in Lithuania, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the Central African Republic, having common mutations among the categorized variants among those to be carefully evaluated (Voc). The report came from research conducted by dozens of European centers led by the Lithuanian Vilnius University and online on the site arXiv, Which publishes studies that have not yet been validated by the scientific community. “B.1620 is the name of the lineage but I don’t understand why it is called the Cameroon variant, and it looks like it comes from Central Africa. It is a variable that moves a lot: it appeared in Europe at the end of February and is now spreading to many European countries“, Says A. ilGiornale.it Massimo Secuzi, Head of the Department of Epidemiology at Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome and one of Italy’s leading experts in variants and sequencing. The professor explained to us that Europe has seen diverse Introductions to this variant, not a single strain has yet spread, far from it. “Different strains from Central Africa, Cameroon and Mali arrived in Europe independently of each other due to travel, as happened in the Czech Republic on a return flight from Mali, the virus is transmitted with people. Therefore, from the point of view of geography, not much can be done because in those countries there are no equipped laboratories for sequencing the virus. “

Because the alternative Cameroon is not scary

What are the characteristics of this alternative Cameroon? “It makes many changes but all of them should be recognized and understood – Ciccozzi Identifies – The important is the usual 484K, which is also common in the South African and Brazilian variant, and is close to the S477N. Perhaps some kind of bridge will be created that allows better involvement of the receptors. This means that it is a little more contagious but infected Lost 501Y“Which is the common type with the South African and Brazilian variant that worries a lot because of the massive infection but also because it makes vaccines less effective. What does the fact that there is no 501Y difference mean?”This means that it should be less contagious but the combination of the other two makes it more stable. He loses one side but buys on the other sideTherefore, if on the one hand it is more contagious, but like the rest of the English version prevalent in Italy and the world because ofDuo with S477N which means more stabilityAt the vaccine level,It shouldn’t cause any problems like the other variants, and they’re all well covered with vaccinesRoman epidemiologist confirms.

What are “multiple premises”

If the virus is likely to spread in Central Africa due to the movement of military men between countries due to wars and internal conflicts, then the entry of the alternative to Europe is due to individual movements that allowed the virus to spread to several countries. “It is clear that the transmission of lineage occurs independently in Europe and North America: it has arrived on our continent several times, as evidenced by the cases of Lithuania, Germany, France and Belgium, but all of them ‘multiple The introduction ‘, that is, the multiple introductions, did not come at once, that a single strain began to spread independently. As if you have 10 different travelers going to 10 different countries and all of them are infected with the same virusThe mutation in S477N was not found in other variants, explains Professor Ciccozzi and the answer lies in the different ethnic groups that make up the world.Each variant has a different mutation from the other because it is spawned in different populations because it is subject to different immune stresses. Every ethnic group has its own immune systemThis is because the African differs from the Asian, which differs from the European, which differs from the Chinese, and so on.

‘Vaccinate them to save us’

In the United States, there are 277 million vaccine administrations, in the United Kingdom 57.8 million, and in Italy more than 29 million. Across Africa, which has a population of 1.2 billion, the number of anti-Covid injections was only 25.8 million, less than those in our country, and we are talking about an entire continent. However, allowing Covid-19 to spread to a continent like Africa could be extremely dangerous. “I’ve been saying for some time that we should To protect Even the least wealthy countries. There are not only ethical reasons, but epidemiological reasons as well. It’s basically the same that makes us say that it will also be important to vaccinate children. If you don’t protect everyone the same way, you leave endemic pockets and the virus can continue to spread. If the virus spreads, it multiplies and potential mutations can occur, and err. Most of the time, these mutations are not important, but in some cases they can lead to variants. We already got it, as is well known, and fortunately the vaccine response appears to be good. But if the virus continues to spread for years, in large continents such as Africa, there is a risk of finding a variant that can evade the vaccine, ” Confirm the rule messenger Professor Roberto Cauda, ​​Director of the Infectious Diseases Operating Unit at the Gemelli Clinic in Rome.

On the same wavelength, Professor Ciccozzi, who has no doubts about the path to follow to permanently eliminate the virus from the circulation. “From this story, given that there are multiple introductions of the same lineage but by different people, this leads us to believe that not only should we vaccinate Europe but we must make room for that. vaccination Africa and Grafting Asia. We have to talk about altruism on the condition of the fact that if we vaccinate them, we are saving ourselves too“Yes, because a virus that spreads without giving any signals is more dangerous in terms of potential mutations.”I hope all this leads to an effective commitment by all nations, which may lead to a temporary halt in industrial property to obtain more vaccines.Cauda al adds messenger.

Future vaccines and a “message” for young people

If the role of T cells, long memory cells, could be better detected, then it would be possible to make customized vaccines even against variants of increasing efficacy. “The moment we really understand the role of these cells, the most important, and we can understand what happens when you encounter the virus, a vaccine will be made that will solve our problems.. And then we will have solved our problems when we have an effective vaccine from six months of age to 99 years old, that way we will have To hit Absolutely the virus that can also disappearUntil then, however, we will have to vaccinate ourselves every year as it happens with influenza. ”It is also important for young people to understand it because they will have to be vaccinated, and they will be one of the most important weapons because they have more social contact, they are those who travel much more than the elderly, and once vaccinated, we will all be. Be calmer. The virus will get so weak that one booster dose per year will be enough to feel good without masks and without problems. If the young are vaccinated, we will soon return to normal lifeL’epidemiologo concluded.