Covid-19, great discovery!

The response of the national disease control suddenly swiped the screen.

On March 10, a question about "The possible outbreak of’ X disease’? The topic of the National CDC’s response rushed to the hot search. Wang Hesheng, director of the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, said at the press conference that although the occurrence of "X disease" is hard to avoid, the resulting pandemic can be prevented and dealt with.

In addition, the latest research findings about BA.2.86 in Covid-19 have also attracted attention. On March 10th, according to Beijing Daily, the latest research by the Institute of Microbiology of China Academy of Sciences and other teams found that Covid-19 BA.2.86 has differentiated into a new serotype. In other words, COVID-19 vaccine based on XBB antigen is at risk of being escaped by BA.2.86 and its subsequent derivative variants. At present, the vaccine based on XBB is still effective against BA.2.86, but the Omikrongya variant derived from BA.2.86 may gain growth advantages, leading to a surge in breakthrough infections.

National CDC responded

Recently, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, warned about the possibility of the outbreak of "disease X", saying that the outbreak of new variants and epidemics "is only a matter of time, not whether it will break out". How to prevent the harm that "X disease" may bring to us?

Wang Hesheng, director of the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, said that the international community is highly concerned about the "X disease". The so-called "X disease" does not represent a specific disease, but an infectious disease caused by unknown pathogens that may lead to a global pandemic. The most important feature of "X disease" is "highly lethal, fast contagious and easy to mutate", and there is great uncertainty in its occurrence and development, so it is difficult to predict the pathogen, time and place of occurrence of "X disease".

Experts from all over the world generally believe that the risk of global pandemic caused by "X disease" is increasing due to the accelerated global climate change, the expanding scope of human activities and the frequent occurrence of cross-species transmission of pathogens.

Wang Hesheng said that although the occurrence of "X disease" is hard to avoid, the resulting pandemic can be prevented and dealt with. Work with relevant departments to plan ahead, make a good first move and fight actively to prepare for the certainty of work and deal with the uncertainty of infectious disease pandemic.

First, establish and improve the system of laws and regulations, adhere to prevention and control according to law, optimize the allocation of resources, and improve the working mechanism of emergency conversion;

Second, establish and improve a multi-channel monitoring and early warning system, strengthen the risk assessment of infectious diseases, and enhance the ability of early detection;

Third, establish and improve the emergency plan system, strengthen emergency team drills, do a good job in relevant material reserves, and improve emergency response capabilities;

Fourth, establish and improve a scientific prevention and control system, increase investment in scientific research, promote forward-looking research on infectious disease pandemics, and enhance scientific and technological support capabilities;

The fifth is to establish and improve the group prevention and control system, improve the departmental linkage mechanism and grassroots governance mechanism, extensively carry out popular science education, and comprehensively improve public health awareness and disease prevention and control ability.

Wang Hesheng said that the epidemic of infectious diseases has no national boundaries, and the prevention and response to the global epidemic of infectious diseases requires the joint efforts of the international community. We will actively participate in global public health governance, promote cooperation with international organizations such as the World Health Organization and other countries, actively participate in the conclusion of the Pandemic Treaty and the revision of the International Health Regulations (2005), and contribute China’s wisdom and China’s strength to building a human health community.

Latest discovery

On March 10th, according to Beijing Daily, the latest research by the Institute of Microbiology of China Academy of Sciences and other teams found that Covid-19 BA.2.86 has differentiated into a new serotype. This will provide a basis for the future research and development of multivalent broad-spectrum COVID-19 vaccine and neutralizing antibody, and provide an important scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of global Covid-19.

According to the report, the team systematically studied the antigenicity of receptor binding domains such as XBB.1.16, EG.5, FL.1.5.1 and BA.2.86 by the method of cross neutralization of mouse serum, and found that the antigenicity of the first three is similar to that of XBB.

However, the antigen spectrum of BA.2.86 has become a new serotype. In other words, COVID-19 vaccine based on XBB antigen is at risk of being escaped by BA.2.86 and its subsequent derivative variants.

At present, the vaccine based on XBB is still effective against BA.2.86, but the Omikrongya variant derived from BA.2.86 may gain growth advantages, leading to a surge in breakthrough infections.

The team said that systematic research on serotypes can quickly classify new variants and evaluate their immune escape ability, and can also be used to design broad-spectrum multivalent vaccines and neutralizing antibodies.

It is reported that BA.2.86, nicknamed "Pirola", belongs to the Omicron family and was first confirmed on July 24th last year.

BA.2.86 once attracted great attention around the world, because its mutation degree is very large.

According to the research published by Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at Fred Haakinson Cancer Research Center, there are 34 mutations in BA.2.86 compared with BA.2 and 36 mutations compared with XBB.1.5 in terms of virus spike protein. To put it in a more popular way, the variation degree of BA.2.86 relative to BA.2 and XBB.1.5 is almost equal to the difference between the original Omicron virus and the original strain.

Morten Rasmussen, a senior researcher, said that it is unusual for a Covid-19 to have such a large variation (more than 30 places).

Although there are many mutations in BA.2.86, the specific degree of immune escape from XBB vaccine and past vaccination+infection with various virus strains needs further study.

According to the risk assessment report of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the mutant of BA.2.86 in COVID-19, based on the existing knowledge, the existing COVID-19 detection and treatment methods still seem to be effective for the mutant of BA.2.86.. There is no evidence that the mutant may cause more severe symptoms.

Proofreading: Wang Chaoquan