- Officials are keeping a close eye on the latest COVID-19 subvariant.
- 他们说，Omicron BA.2.75可能是迄今为止绕过先前免疫力的最具传染性变体。
- 到目前为止，它在印度最普遍，尽管它已经出现在包括美国在内的大约十几个国家。
- 专家说，新信息强化了人们应该继续接种疫苗和增强疫苗的观念，而风险较高的人应该考虑在室内和拥挤的室外场所中戴上高质量的面具。
这些数字很难跟上。
Right now, the White House报告导致COVID-19病例增加的最高子变量是Omicron Ba.4和Ba.5。
Together, they account for 80 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the United States, with BA.5 responsible for the majority.
然而,专家警告有一个新的接头variant on the horizon that is worrisome. It’s BA.2.75, or as Twitter has绰号它，“半人马座”。
“这是另一个变体，从BA.2版本的Omicron降下。”Amesh Adalja博士，约翰·霍普金斯卫生安全中心的高级学者，马里兰州约翰·霍普金斯彭博公共卫生学院的助理教授。
“I like to refer to it as a grandchild of the original Omicron strain,” adds马修·宾尼克（Matthew Binnicker）, Ph.D., a microbiologist and director of clinical virology at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
The concern is that BA.2.75 is highly infectious and it may be able to bypass previous immunity, although mask wearing and vaccinations remain important preventive measures to ward off serious illness.
世界卫生组织（WHO）的官员saythey have been monitoring the growth of Omicron 2.75.
The agency says it is spreading rapidly in India but has also been detected outside that country.
根据跟踪数据由Raj Rajnarayanan（研究助理院长兼阿肯色州立大学副教授）汇编的Gisaid，该子变量已在包括美国在内的其他十几个国家中被发现。
A handful of cases identified as BA.2.75 has been detected in California, Washington, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.
However, experts say we aren’t doing enough testing and surveillance to know just how prevalent it might be.
“It’s probably a combination of two things… BA.2.75 likely isn’t prevalent here yet. That being said, it definitely could become prevalent in the coming weeks or months” Binnicker told Healthline.
他补充说：“其次，在实验室进行测试然后测序的样品量比一月和二月要低得多。”“那是因为许多人正在接受家庭测试，甚至没有寻求临床实验室测试。”
WHO officials have
专家说，这些子变量在其尖峰蛋白中有突变。这就是病毒的一部分，它从表面伸出并结合到宿主细胞并允许病毒钻入细胞。
Binnicker说：“ BA.2.75除了在BA.5中看到的外，还有其他突变，因此该尖峰蛋白的变化更加变化。”
“People who look at where the mutations are and that spike protein are concerned that it will be even better at evading any pre-existing immunity,” he said.
尽管如此，一些专家说，现在确切知道这个子变量可能会做什么还为时过早。
Adalja告诉Healthline：“我认为现在说这令人担忧还为时过早，因为目前尚不清楚这种变体必须与BA.5竞争时如何表现。”雷竞技app官网
Experts say mask-wearing and vaccinations are still有效的措施you can take.
Binnicker说：“我们了解到，疫苗接种或事先感染并不能保护您，尤其是长期再次感染或首次感染。”
他补充说：“但是，即使是那些已经接种疫苗并患有有症状疾病的人，我们看到的是较少人数降低医院的总体趋势。”“较少的人因严重的疾病而降低，最终对呼吸机的重症监护和垂死。”
“The goal is to make sure that your bout with it is mild by being vaccinated and having a plan to use Paxlovid and monoclonal antibodies if you are at high risk,” Adalja added.
疫苗制造商是继续工作特定于Omicron的更新版本可能已经准备好秋季，但Binnicker指出，可能没有时间包括BA.2.75。
“My initial thought is that the vaccine manufacturers are already working on updates to the vaccine formulation, likely including some of the earlier strain of Omicron,” he said. “I’m not sure the BA.2.75 is going to make it into the update formulation. Because it’s just now hitting the scene. And there’s probably studies already ongoing… safety and efficacy studies… for the updated vaccines.”
“But if we do have an updated formulation that includes some of the earlier Omicron subvariants, it should really help in terms of greater protection, even against some of those strains that are just now emerging,” he added.