The corona mutations are currently the greatest concern of many.
Another virus variant has now appeared in Brazil - and it could pose a particular danger.
The fight against the
coronavirus has
already been going on for
a good year
- and it's far from over.
Most recently, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the federal states decided at the
Corona summit
to extend
the
lockdown
again and tighten the corona measures again *.
The fact that this strict line is followed, although the exponential increase in
new infections
seems to have stopped, is mainly due to the fear of the
corona mutations
.
So far, the
virus variants
from Great Britain and South Africa were known.
Now there is a third
mutation
from
Brazil
- and experts are increasingly worried, as
reported by echo24.de
*.
Because through them one could possibly say goodbye to the term herd immunity.
Corona mutation in Brazil: virus variant probably highly infectious - danger also for those who have recovered
The corona mutation from Great Britain was first detected in Baden-Württemberg on Christmas Eve *.
The
virus variant B.1.1.7
is said to be significantly more contagious than the previously known form of the
coronavirus
- especially for children *.
Although the virus variant does not seem to lead to a more severe course of
Covid-19
, it
can accelerate
the
pandemic
due to the easier transferability
.
If more people become infected with the virus in a short period of time, there are significantly more serious and fatal courses.
The Corona mutation from South Africa * is also considered to be potentially more contagious than the variant previously widespread in Germany.
The reason for the rapid spread could be a slight change at one point of the
spike protein
on the virus surface.
The
virus
penetrates the
human cell
through this
.
The only good news
about
the previously known
corona mutations
from Great Britain and South Africa: The corona vaccinations are also likely to work against the virus variants *.
But now a new mutant has been detected in Brazil that is spreading worries.
Because the
corona mutation
doesn't just seem to be highly infectious - even immune people don't seem to be protected from it.
+
In Manaus, three quarters of the people had already been infected with corona - it was thought they were immune for months.
(Symbol image)
© Oliver Berg / dpa / symbol image
Corona mutation in Brazil: Experts extremely concerned - those who have recovered probably not protected
"I am very concerned about the
mutation
from
Brazil
, which was obviously able to re-infect a population group in
Manaus
that actually had a high infection rate - actually should have been
immune
", explained intensive care physician Prof.
Uwe Janssens
in an interview with RTL.
In Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas, three quarters of the people were
infected
with
corona
in 2020
.
Accordingly, a certain basic immunization was assumed.
Recently,
however
, the number of
infections
rose
surprisingly again.
The
variant P.1
identified
in
Brazil
has 17 mutations, some of them in the
spike protein
, as
reported by
Deutsche Welle
.
So it could be that this
corona mutation
"escaped" from the body's immune response.
“This is of course a completely new effect that we are now seeing: That obviously a
mutation
formerly
Sars-CoV-2 infected can
then
re-infect
within the assumed
immunity
.” Studies had shown that
those
who have
recovered are very likely to be immune to it for several months the virus are *.
But those who have recovered are not protected from the corona mutation from Brazil.
New Corona variant P.1 in Brazil: vaccines still effective?
It has not yet been clarified
whether the
vaccines
from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna are also
effective
against the
corona mutation
from
Brazil
.
However,
according to
dw.de,
these
mRNA vaccines
dock
exactly on the affected
spike protein
.
As the
Tagesschau
reported, vaccine developer Biontech had also stated that - if necessary - a new
vaccine could be
developed
within six weeks that could be
effective against certain corona mutations.
*
echo24.de
is part of the Ippen-Digital network
List of rubric lists: © Kay Nietfeld / dpa