With the eyes of the world on its rise coronavirus in China and the opening of the border from the east, the real “enemy” can come from the west and go under a not very sonorous name ХВВ.1.5.

This is a new variant of Omicron, which is already being called on the Internet. “Kraken” and tends to become mainstream in the US, first appearing around October.

According to the World Health Organization, XBB.1.5 has already been found in at least 29 countries while still dominates in China familiar to us Omicron 5.

At the same time, WHO recorded in December The number of deaths from Covid-19 in the world increased by 15%which may be due to the predominance of the new subvariant over other mutations both in North America and in some European countries.

O Theodoros LitrasAssociate Professor, Department of Public Health, European University Cyprus School of Medicine, o Ghikas Mallorcaprofessor of epidemiology and member of the Expert Commission of the Ministry of Health and Nikos Tsanakisprofessor of pulmonology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Crete, talk to “K” about this new sub-option and warn that is the “most likely candidate” to trigger a new wave of the pandemic in Greece as well..

However, according to EODY last week, so far not found some case of XBB.1.5 in our country.

What is BBB.1.5 and where did it come from?

BBB.1.5 is a mutation subvariant Omicron 2which caused an outbreak in our country in March last year.

According to Mr. Tsanakis, “mother” sub-variant of BBB – which, in turn, resulted from crossing sub-variants of Omicron BA.2.75 and BA.2.10.1 – first appeared a few months earlier in India and Singapore.

The evolved XBB.1.5 was first discovered in October last year. US Northeastespecially in New York and its environs.

What’s going on in the US with the new mutation?

The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that HBV.1.5 was responsible for four out of ten new infections (40%) of coronavirus in the US at the end of December compared to just 4-5% at the beginning of December.

At the same time, it is recorded increase in hospital admissions and to deaths in the USA.

However, Mr Majorkinis notes that the above increase is not necessarily due to an increase in CBB.1.5 cases. as this is still not the dominant sub-option, adding that the US has recently faced winter wave so it is logical that there will be an increase in the incidence due to low temperatures and crowding in enclosed spaces.

How is it different from other variants of the coronavirus?

Although “native” VVV it has the ability to evade antibodies and immunity, it doesn’t attach to and attack cells of the body as efficiently, meaning it wasn’t as contagious.

On the contrary, the improved XBB.1.5 retains as an ability eludes hybrid immunity and has the advantage of contagiousness.

In fact, he has 20% transfer ability advantage compared to other coronavirus subvariants.

Is it more dangerous?

So far, though it turns out to be more contagious, it has also not been shown to be more contagious nor that it causes a more serious illness. Of course, from the fact that he eludes immunity (natural, hybrid or vaccine), problems arise, i.e. someone who had a coronavirus some time ago can become infected again.

symptoms this is a common thing for the corona virus, it does not have any features.

Could this trigger a new wave of the pandemic?

Mr. Litras considered that, due to the advantage of transmissibility and immunity evasion, this sub-option may supplant other mutations and subvariants.

According to him, there is a risk that this will cause the same in Greece. epidemic wave in the coming months.

In turn, Mr. Majorkinis also notes that it is very likely that we will see this in our country, and this “most likely candidate” cause a new outbreak of the pandemic.

How about vaccines?

While we still can’t know for sure what’s going on with vaccines, Mr. Tzanakis notes that they are certainly still protect against serious illness with coronavirus and to some extent from infection.

He adds that a small study a few months ago in the New England Journal of Medicine found that updated vaccine effective against the “parent” subvariant of CBB.

On the other hand, he believes that monoclonal antibodies they will not be effective against BBB.1.5.

What can we do with this new sub-option?

Theodoros Lytras’ recommendations are as follows:

1. Citizens should be aware of vaccinations. Especially the elders did it updated dose vaccines as recommended by EODY.
2. Apply them personal protective measures which apply to all respiratory infections.
3. In agreement with the state security protocol citizens and make correct and timely registration of new changes.