New omicron variant "XE" discovered - Hundreds of cases in the UK
Created: 04/05/2022 12:26 p.m
By: Martina Lippl
New coronavirus variants have emerged.
A mixed variant called XE is spreading in Great Britain (photomontage).
© Imago
A new omicron variant has been detected in Great Britain.
More than 600 cases have already been identified.
Experts are watching “XE” closely.
It's a mixed version.
London – The new coronavirus* variant
Omikron XE
is a combination of the Omikron variants BA.1 and BA.2.
Possibly the new Omikron mixed variant is even more contagious.
According to experts, it is still too early to draw conclusions about certain properties of the new variant.
Omikron XE first appeared in the UK in January 2022
The omicron variant XE was first detected in January 2022 in Great Britain.
To date, over 600 cases of XE have been sequenced there.
This is according to a report by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
XE cases have already been reported around the world, most of them in France, according to the British health authority.
As with other types of variants, most die relatively quickly.
Suzanne Hopkins
“Recombinant variants are not uncommon, especially when multiple variants are in circulation and several have been identified in the course of the pandemic so far.
As with other types of variants, most die off relatively quickly," explained Professor Susan Hopkins, senior adviser to the UKHSA, in a press release.
However, Hopkins concedes in the statement that special recombination XE "showed a variable growth rate."
"We cannot yet confirm whether it has a real growth advantage." So far, there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions about the transmissibility, severity or effectiveness of the vaccine.
The UKHSA said it would continue to closely monitor Omikron XE.
This also applies to the other recombination known as XF and XD.
Coronavirus: New XE variant may be 10 percent more contagious than Omicron
"According to initial estimates, XE is another ten percent more contagious than BA.2," writes the World Health Organization (WHO) in its weekly Covid-19 report (March 29, 2022).
However, this still needs to be confirmed.
XE will be counted in the omicron family until "significant differences in transmission and disease characteristics, including severity, are reported." The WHO announced that it would monitor and evaluate the recombinant variants.
Omicron XD (also known as Deltakron) | Recombination of delta and omicron BA.1 |
|---|---|
Omicron XF | Recombination of delta and omicron BA.1 |
Omicron XE | Recombination of omicron BA.1 and omicron BA.2 |
Omikron BA.2 currently dominates in Great Britain.
The British health authority estimates that the BA.2 proportion of corona cases accounts for around 93.7 percent.
XD has not yet been detected in Great Britain.
There were 38 cases at XF by mid-February, and since then, according to the UKHSA, there has not been a single case.
Omikron XE - When will the coronavirus recombine at all?
How can a mutation* of different coronavirus variants occur?
The UKHSA explains: "A recombinant variant occurs when a person is infected with two or more variants at the same time, resulting in a mixing of their genetic material in the patient's body." Such a mutation is "not an unusual event", emphasizes the British health authority .
In the course of the corona pandemic, several recombinant SARS-CoV-2 variants would have been identified.
Omikron XD - a hybrid of Delta and Omikron - made headlines recently.
The variant of the coronavirus known as "Deltakron" combines the disease-causing properties of Delta and is as contagious as omicron.
So far, it is the only variant in which the omicron spike protein is "more or less perfectly" inserted into a delta genome, Richard Neher, head of the research group Evolution of Viruses and Bacteria at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, explained to the dpa news agency .
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