Day after day, the new mutant Omicron imposes its laws and conditions on the world. Since the first week of its appearance in South Africa, many countries have rushed to re-tighten entry procedures into their territories; While others canceled all public gatherings and meetings for fear of the new mutant infiltrating it and forcing it to return to the zero point or crush what was left of its already exhausted economic body.
Although virologists have accumulated comprehensive information about the Corona virus, the new mutant Omicron is still in its infancy and there is not yet enough data about it and its danger; What compels these specialists to deal with it very cautiously.
For more clarification on the Omicron mutator, the reason for its appearance and the extent of its danger, Hespress interviewed Abd al-Salam al-Idrisi al-Bouzidi, a Moroccan professor residing in the United States of America; He is a specialist in developmental neuroscience and professor of biology at the City University of New York, USA, and I had the following interview with him:
First of all, how do you know the omicron mutant? What makes it different from other previous mutants?
The new mutant, Omicron, appeared in South Africa on the 24th of last November to some students in one of the colleges; When they took a corona test, they discovered that they had a new mutation of the emerging corona virus, which is not similar to the previous ones that we knew before. And for news, he is the same mutant that appeared a week ago in Botswana. From the beginning, it was found that this new mutant was unknown, and therefore the World Health Organization classified it as a new mutant; But what we must know is that Omicron is distinguished by containing more than fifty mutations, some of which were in the British B.1.1.7 “alpha”, the South African B.1.351 “beta”, the Brazilian B.1.1.28.1 “gamma”, and the Indian B.1.617. 2 «Delta». Which gives it a kind of immune escape, and therefore it can be considered that Omicron combines all the previous mutants.
How do mutant appear? And why did Omicron appear?
You know that often when the virus infiltrates a person's body, his immune system eliminates it within two weeks or a little less; However, the matter is different when it comes to people with weak immunity, especially those who suffer from chronic diseases such as cancer or diseases related to immunity such as AIDS or those who have undergone organ transplants.. These people may suffer from the disease due to the virus for several months, and during During this period, the virus is able to multiply and create new mutations, infecting other cells, which turns it into a new mutant, and after its transmission to another person, it actually acquires the character of the “new mutant”.. Here, its journey begins to spread from one person to another; Therefore, patients with a weak immune system must be closely followed clinically, given additional doses of the vaccine and protected so that they can strengthen their immunity, because protecting this category is protection for everyone.
What makes him a disturbing mutant?
Naturally, questions arise about the seriousness of this new mutant. Indeed, it is a worrisome mutagen, especially since it is still in its infancy, and there are no reliable experimental scientific data about it. But we can deduce or extrapolate some of the available information based on the mutations in Omicron itself. What is known about the evolutionary advantage of viruses is that often when new mutations occur in them, they give them a greater ability to spread, and thus infect the largest possible number of people, but their ferocity becomes less, Because when someone gets infected with the virus; Either he is subjected to quarantine in his home when the symptoms or the effect is little, or he is forced to undergo treatment in the hospital, or, God forbid, death, and this is not in the interest of the virus in terms of the advantage of development that it possesses, and this is what we conclude from the study of previously existing viruses.. Therefore, what is What can be said about the new mutant Omicron is that we expect an increase in its spread and a weakness in its virulence.
But could these mutations in Omicron enable it to achieve immune escape, thus bypassing the efficacy of current vaccines?
Based on what was known about the previous mutations, the vaccine enables the human immune system to produce a lot of antibiotics to counter the virus, and even the unvaccinated person produces antibiotics in turn; However, it may not give him a strong immunity and decrease over time. The mutations detected in the new mutant show that it will have partial, but not complete, immune escape; People who are vaccinated or who were previously infected with corona may resist the new mutation and will enjoy a kind of protection, but as I said what will give them immunity are “T-cells” cells, which are the cells of the immune system, and it will be difficult for the virus to bypass the immunity of these cells and achieve total immune escape.
For me, this mutant is expected to achieve some kind of immune escape in the unvaccinated; But those vaccinated with high rates of T-cells will help them to confront this new mutant, and this conclusion is based on extrapolation based on the study of mutations in the virus. So, it will be very widespread; But with a little ferocity and partial immune escape, and therefore the third dose will enhance the response of the immune system and often will protect its owners from new mutations.
In your opinion, will the vaccination of rich countries, and the survival of poor countries without complete vaccination, contribute to the emergence of new mutations?
The epidemic is a global problem; The “alpha” mutagen is British, the beta is South African, the gamma is Brazilian, and the delta is Indian, and therefore we cannot expect where a new mutant might appear.. and no particular country poses a threat to another; Because new mutations can appear anywhere in the world.. When they appear, the speed of their spread is great, and therefore other countries will inevitably be infected. Everyone knows that the world has become a small village, which helped the virus spread very quickly; However, we must not forget that rich countries manufacture vaccines or buy them in large quantities and vaccinate their citizens, while there are poor countries that cannot fully vaccinate their citizens, which threatens the emergence of new mutations. The only way to beat the virus is to act collectively, this is a test for all of humanity. In addition, at the individual level, there is a responsibility on everyone as individuals. Health prevention must not be tolerated, the need to maintain social distancing, to be careful to wear a muzzle, to maintain permanent hygiene, and to respect all health procedures in force.. I know that everyone is tired of the virus; But the virus is not tired yet, and it is likely that it will know new mutations and mutants in the future, although based on what we know about viruses with time, their ferocity will decrease and we will live with it and the Corona virus may turn into a virus similar to the cold virus.