The person is Grace Wade.
There is an illustration of a subvariant of the coronaviruses.
A stock photo of Joshimer Binas.
The XBB. 1.5 strain is the dominant covid-19 strain in the US and will likely become so in other parts of the world.
The proportion of covid-19 infections due to XBB. 1.5 has doubled every week in the US, making it the nation's fastest spreading variant. More than 40% of covid-19 cases in the US are due to XBB. 1.5, according to the CDC. The majority of cases in the north-eastern US may be XBB. 1.5.
Maria Van Kerkhove said at the World Health Organization press conference that it was the most transmissible subvariant detected yet.
The UK and Australia have both detected XBB. 1.5. The UK government doesn't publicly report covid-19 variant proportions, but a research institution in the UK says it made up 4% of the country's cases in December.
Two previous covid-19 variant swapped genetic material while infecting the same individual, which led to the creation of XBB. 1.5. XBB. 1.5 is similar to other omicron subvariants, but with a few advantages, one of which may be an improved ability to bind to andinfecting human cells.
Changes in the part of the virus targeted by vaccines appear to have made XBB. 1.5 better at evading immunity than its predecessors. A preliminary study led by Can Yue at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing found that the XBB. 1.5 subvariant had an enhanced ability to escape antibodies in blood samples taken from 116 people, all of whom had previously received either three doses of the CoronoVac covid-19 vaccine or
This doesn't mean covid-19 vaccines aren't effective against this subvariant. The evidence shows that people with at least two vaccines are less likely to die from covid-19 than people with fewer shots. Bruce Hirsch at North Shore University Hospital in New York says that exposure to current strains increases the effectiveness of the old strains.
Ray says that the protection is even better with the bivalent boosters in the US and the UK. Most of the population is vulnerable due to the fact that only 15% of people over the age of 5 have received the updated booster.
The good news is that many treatments for covid-19 will still work against XBB. 1.5. The spread of XBB. 1.5 can be slowed by the use of preventative measures such as masking.
The viruses we are not seeing are brand new. It's the latest variant to become more efficient and infectious.
There is a reference to bio Arxiv.
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