kraken is the latest variant of covid-19, but expect more mutations
the new subvariant of omicron is close to taking over as the most-prevalent form of covid in the u.s.
3 minute read
"we will be exposed more and more to these variants because they find a way to escape the immune system," said horacio bach, a researcher and adjunct professor of medicine at ubc
richard lam
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kraken, a subvariant of omicron, is the newest form of covid-19. it is sweeping through the united states and, inevitably, toward b.c.
but while xbb. 1.5, to give it its scientific name, is new, covid variants aren’t and they will be with us for some time to come, experts say.
kraken was responsible for 40 per cent of the confirmed covid cases in the u.s. last week, and 75 per cent of confirmed cases in the american northeast.
“kraken is a variant and we will be exposed more and more to these variants because they find a way to escape the immune system,” said horacio bach, an adjunct professor of infectious diseases at ubc and researcher of vaccines.
antibodies are produced in our bodies according to a defined protein or piece of a molecule that produces an immune response, he said.
“to infect us, the virus needs to connect to our cells and kraken has a way of binding that is particularly tight. it’s a much stronger bind, meaning it’s harder to get rid of it.
“people who don’t have good antibodies or they didn’t vaccinate again after their first vaccine, they are more prone (to getting sick). that’s what we know about this kraken at the moment.”
because kraken is a relatively new variant, it’s evolved more quickly than older variants, said dr. brian conway, president and medical director at the vancouver infectious disease centre.
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“let’s say you have two different viruses, one is an older version and one is a new mutated variant,” he said. “and they both infect the cell, the variant replicates more quickly and binds more easily.
“it’ll crowd out the older virus, i think that’s really what we’re seeing because this xbb. 1.5 has characteristics of, not all of the old viruses, but a number of the old viruses.
“we’re going to see a fair bit of that going forward.”
there may be a general misconception that viruses are hunters homing in on healthy cells, but visualize instead dandelion seeds scattering randomly in the wind.
“that’s a good comparison, exactly right,” conway said.
“and if there’s a couple of the dandelion seeds that are resistant to whatever weed killer you’re applying, it’ll kill everything except those and those will replicate and now they’re all resistant.
“it isn’t that (the surviving seeds) got smart, it’s that a few of them were resistant, your weed killer killed everything else and that’s all.”
viruses that escape being neutralized by the immune system do so by having a tiny mutation, making them different from all the other viruses and they go on to reproduce viruses that also have that mutation.
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it’s basic evolution by natural selection and those slightly mutated viruses reproduce quickly and prolifically. millions and millions of times a day.
“as they multiply, they gain more and more ground,” ubc’s bach said. “the antibodies generated by the vaccine are not as useful at this point, they’ve lost some potency.”
he is also concerned about long covid, of which not much is yet known since covid has only been around since late 2019. and nothing is known of how kraken will affect long covid.
bach said somewhere between 20 and 30 per cent of those who catch covid suffer from long-term effects.
dealing with new variants is not something that will go away.
“that’s the way nature works,” he said. “i understand that people are tired of covid, but we’re not going to get rid of the pandemic fatigue, it will continue and continue.”
short of new provincial guidelines, both experts urge getting a bivalent booster, which targets the original covid-19 virus and offers better protection against other variants in circulation, and wearing a mask indoors.
“vaccination and the simple use of a mask will solve a lot,” bach said.
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