Two and a half years after our forced encounter and coexistence with Covid-19, the appearance of yet another variant of the virus no longer surprises us. Over the months, the worldwide patient base has covered the distance from Alpha to Delta in the Greek alphabet. Humanity then became familiar with Omicron and its many offshoots. Each of these new incarnations of the disease raises the same persistent question: are we witnessing the rise of a more contagious and severe version of the coronavirus? For this reason, the discovery of a new variant, baptized as BA2.75 or “Centauro”, in recent weeks, arouses the concern of scientists.
International health institutions still reserve their response to a possible increase in the harmfulness of Centaur compared to its predecessors, but specialists point to its potential for mutation. A concern whose guardian repeated here.
wide circulation
To get to know it better, it is first a matter of tracing its genesis. It originally appeared in India in early May. And in two months of existence, it has already had time to reach ten countries, including the United Kingdom, but also the United States, Australia, Germany, Canada. List to which RTL still adds Japan.
The Centaur variant has not yet been detected in France at this stage, but the season is propitious to strengthen its circulation, as Geert Molenberghs, an expert in biostatistics, pointed out in statements to the Belgian newspaper. news. “After spreading rapidly in India, we should see it spread around the world at a rapid rate this Christmas season,” he said, according to a translation provided notably by free belgium.
The mutation problem
Thus, the fluidity of this new edition of SARS-CoV-2 is not in doubt. As for its dangerousness, on the other hand, it is still nebulous. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control is waiting to see… but keeping an eye on it. In fact, the agency has designated it as a “variant to watch” last Thursday. The World Health Organization is also watching. However, the institution has explained that the data was still too meager at this stage to make a religion out of the subject.
But on the British side, we are already alarmed by one dimension of this emerging problem: the changes it brings. Tom Pecock, a virologist affiliated with Imperial College London, has thus developed with the guardian: “It is not so much about the mutations themselves, but about their number and their combinations. It is difficult to predict the effect of so many mutations that appear together: it gives the virus carte blanche where the sum of the parts would be most damaging.” than those parts taken individually.
For now, the Centaur variant is mostly a matter of projections, though.
Source: BFM TV
