A topic that has been hotly discussed online recently is that in the process of gradual relaxation, the incidence of Beijing and Guangzhou seems to be quite different. So some people suggested that this is because the main epidemic variants in Beijing and Guangzhou are different. Guangzhou is mainly popular with BA.5.2 variant. The symptoms after infection are relatively mild, and most of them are asymptomatic and mild. The BF.7 variant is popular in Beijing, which causes more fierce symptoms. Most people will experience high fever, severe sore throat, cough and other symptoms.
During the widespread infection process in various places, is it really because of the different virus variants, which leads to the "heavy north and light south" of the symptoms after infection? Is there any other reason for this phenomenon? Some friends asked, will this different variant in different regions cause cross infection? With these questions in mind, let’s talk about this topic with you today.
The symptoms of new coronavirus infection are "heavily from the north and light in the south". The reason may be that the diverse
variants cause different degrees of symptoms after infection. This possibility of course exists. Compared with BA.5.2, BF.7 is also a newer subvariant of Omickron BA.5. Its spike protein mutations have more mutations than the previous variants and has stronger characteristics of producing immune escape. This characteristic may lead to stronger escape from the active immunity obtained by vaccination, and therefore may lead to stronger symptoms of discomfort, which is one of the possible reasons.
But what we need to draw a question mark is: Are the symptoms of new crown infection really "high in the north and light in the south"?
There is currently no clear official big data statistics to prove that most of us can obtain information through the Internet, especially some personal experience sharing in the era of self-media. These individual cases may bring cognitive deviations, which gives people the feeling that the symptoms of people infected with the BF.7 variant in the north are stronger, while the symptoms of people infected with the BA.5.2 variant in the south are milder. We don't know whether this feeling can represent the actual situation.
The difference in climate is also another reason why everyone feels differently. At present, the north is already a cold winter, while the south is relatively warmer. In cold weather, the body's resistance to the virus will also decline after being infected with the virus. Therefore, this is also one of the possible reasons why this epidemic seems to be "high in the north and light in the south".
different variants have different risk of severe illness
In general, we now say that the proportion of symptoms after virus infection in the north is higher, or the symptoms after infection of the BF.7 variant are milder than those after infection with BA.5.2 are still lacking clear evidence, so there is no need to argue about this. But one thing that needs to be reached is that whether it is BA.5.2 or BF.7 variants, they are all subvariants of the Omickron variant. The difference is not large in essence, and it is not that the virus causes more symptomatic people, which is even more serious.
Whether it is BA.5.2 or BF.7, they are all subvariants of Omickron. Their characteristics are mostly caused by upper respiratory tract infections with . A very small number of people will develop symptoms of pneumonia , and the chance of severe and critical illness is greatly reduced. Therefore, there is no need to worry about which variant is infected. There is no difference between the chance of severe illness caused by these two variants. Most of the normal people with good immunity are mild infections. The elderly with severe risks, people with underlying diseases, and people with low immunity are still worthy of special attention, and the chance of infection should be minimized.
In addition to BF.7 and BA.5.2, there are also these variants worth noting.
. An indisputable fact is that virus variants are not necessarily confined to a corner and only spread in one area. It is normal for these mutated viruses to spread across regions. The popular variant in Beijing is BF.7, and the main popular variant in Guangzhou is BA.5.2. The results announced in the two places at the beginning of this round of epidemic. However, these variants are still not mainstream strains. There is no official confirmation, and there are certain variables. The viruses infected by many people now may not be the previous epidemic variant.
In addition to BF.7 and BA.5.2, two new variants currently popular abroad are also worthy of our attention. One is the XBB variant, which is a combination of two subvariants of BA.2. It has caused recent pandemics in many Asian regions such as Singapore, , Bangladesh, , India and other countries. Compared with mutant strains such as BA.5.2, this variant has more mutations in spike protein and stronger immune escape. However, judging from the changes in the epidemic in Singapore, the wave of infection caused by this virus in Singapore has only lasted for about a month and has declined significantly.
, and another variant is the BQ.1 series virus. This variant has now become the mainstream strain currently popular in the United States. In the past week, the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants have accounted for 68% of the statistics of new infections in the United States. Recently, due to the gradual spread in Japan, it was also named "Hellhound". There are rumors that the BQ.1 series has caused more serious problems and "killed all sides" in Japan. The actual situation is that BQ.1 has not yet formed an advantageous spread in Japan, and has not caused a higher severe disease and mortality rate than other Omickron variants.
Therefore, not only the popular BA.5.2 and BF.7 in China need to be noted, but some new internationally popular variants are also worthy of our attention. Omickron has strong variability and new mutations may occur. However, from the current mutation direction, Omickron's evolution has shown convergent characteristics, and the differences between different variants are getting smaller and smaller. This can be said to be good news for us to study the pathogenicity of the virus and related antiviral drugs.
Omickron's different variants have very little possibility of "cross infection"
Many friends are worried that different variants in different parts of the country will cause cross infection due to different mainstream variants in different regions? This kind of worry is understandable, but there is really no need to be too anxious about it.
Medical cross-infection refers to the infection obtained by from other patients, medical workers and accompanying staff in the hospital. The " cross-infection " that many of us are worried about here refers to the situation where a Omickron variant will be infected again or even simultaneously infected after being exposed to other types of variants. In fact, as a sub-variant of Omickron, the natural immunity generated in the body after infection with one variant also has the effect of immunization of on another variant that is not very different. Therefore, the possibility of "cross-infection" occurs after infection with one variant or during infection with another variant is not high, so there is no need to worry too much.
instead of worrying about cross-infection between different variants, it is better to protect your immunity and minimize the concurrent problems such as influenza virus infection and bacterial infection that may be concurrent during Omickron infection. #2022 Vitality Conference#
