As of now, there are only 5 mutant strains of concern announced by the World Health Organization, namely Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron! Among them, Omicron is the virus currently prevalent in our country. At present, the virus is still mutating. According to recent obser

So far, The World Health Organization has announced only 5 variants of concern, namely Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta , and Omicron ! Among them, Omicron is the currently popular virus in our country.

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At present, the Omicron mutant strain is still mutating. According to recent observations by the World Health Organization, there are at least hundreds of sub-branches of Omicron mutating. XBB is only a small branch of Omicron. The evidence currently observed is that its pathogenicity and fatality rate are not strong, but its immune evasion ability is enhanced.

Recently, strains of XBB have also been discovered in our country. According to Xu Wenbo, director of the Institute of Virology of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China has monitored the introduction of BF.7, BQ.1, and XBB into China in the past three months. A total of more than 130 sub-branches of Omicron have been imported into China. Among them, BQ.1 and its sub-branches were detected in 49 cases in nine provinces, and XBB sub-branches were detected in 11 cases in three provinces.

XBB The number one strain in the United States

XBB.1 and XBB.1.5 are both subclades of XBB. According to the latest data recently released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, XBB.1.5 accounts for 41% of coronavirus cases in the United States and has replaced BQ.1.1 and BQ.1 as the most prevalent strain in the United States.

At the same time, we have seen information released by the United States that the pathogenicity of XBB and its sub-branches has not been significantly enhanced. The symptoms that people experience after infection are similar to those caused by other subtypes of Omicron, or even milder, and the fatality rate has not increased.

Even so, as the World Health Organization has shown that the immune evasion ability has been enhanced, will there be follow-up due to the stubbornness of XBB's immune evasion ability? Even if we are vaccinated against vaccine , whether it is the current safer inactivated vaccine or a foreign mRNA vaccine using new technology, the immune protection against this variant strain may be reduced?

In fact, one infection is equivalent to being vaccinated once, and neutralizing antibodies will be produced in our bodies later. Now the virus mutation has increased its immune evasion ability. The mutation of this virus is really hard to guard against. It is estimated that we will have to get booster shots in the future.