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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director)
As Covid cases continue to rise in France, the BA.2.86 variant, monitored by the WHO, has been detected for the first time in France, in the Grand Est. Should we fear a surge in cases this fall? Dr Gérald Kierzek, medical director of Doctissimo, answers us.
It was monitored by the World Health Organization since August 18 because of its many mutations, the BA.2.86 variant nicknamed Pirola, is now very close. Several cases have thus been identified in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Spain. Should we be worried about the coming fall?
What do we know about the dangerousness of Pirola?
To date, the surveillance status of the Pirola variant is not linked to its dangerousness. This has been classified “in the category of variants under surveillance because of the very large number (greater than 30) of mutations of the Spike gene that it carries”as revealed by the World Health Organization in its latest epidemiological report.
As a reminder, it is this Spike protein that allows Covid to infect victims. According to experts, the Spanish media El Periodico, this peculiarity of Pirola would make it “a significantly different virus”. This could be comparable “to the jump that occurred between the Delta and Omicron variants”reveals Roger Paredes, head of infectious diseases Badalona in the Spanish media El Periodico.
For Massimo Ciccozzi, director of the Molecular Statistics and Epidemiology Unit at the Bio-Medico campus in Rome, who is also studying the variant, “there is no indication to consider this a new variant of significant concern and further data is needed to understand whether the variant will be dangerous or not.”
A first case detected in the Grand Est
On August 31, Santé Publiqe reports that a first case of this variant has been detected in France: this contamination “corresponds to a levy from the Grand Est dated 08/21/2023. Investigations are underway to gather additional information on this case.“.
In France, infections with the Eris variant are on the rise and according to the situation update of August 23, “most lab-confirmed positive cases in week 33 are from all six regions, five of which are the same as in the past two weeks“. These are Occitanie, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, Île-de-France and New Aquitaine. What would encourage a breakthrough for Pirola for all that?
“The only question to ask is that of the effectiveness of the vaccine booster”
Dr. Gérald Kierzek, medical director of Doctissimo, invites us to remain pragmatic:
“We knew that this variant would arrive in France, there is no discussion on this subject, viruses know no borders. But it is not a question of panicking: it is a virus which mutates as it has done, as it always will, and which remains under surveillance. The only question that will arise quickly is that of the vaccine booster and its effectiveness against this new variant.”
In its last bulletin of August 31, Santé Publique evokes this point without providing an answer: “No in vitro data are currently available. The large number of mutations in BA.2.86 raises concerns about its potential immune escape and the efficacy of vaccines, even those adapted to XBB which will be available soon. However , the immune status of the world population is very different from what it was when Omicron emerged (significant proportion vaccinated and/or infected with different successive variants), which could make it possible to retain some protection, in especially against severe forms“.