Source: Alexander Oshchepkov/NGS.RU New coronaviruses from the FLiRT group have begun to spread throughout the world. They have already been identified in 14 European countries and Israel. They could lead to another rise in Covid cases, especially as the number of infected people is rising again. In Spain, the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 has quadrupled in two weeks. Between May 5 and May 11, Singapore recorded more than 25,900 cases. Scientists note that strains from the FLiRT group are more infectious than previous ones. Does this mean that a pandemic will break out again around the world? Will the virus become even wilder? Is it possible to protect yourself from it? What to do if there are significantly fewer Covid vaccines? Our colleagues from MSK1.RU asked these questions to microbiologists, immunologists and infectious disease specialists. Details in this material. What kind of “flirting” is this? A few days ago, the Financial Times, citing data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported that the US could see a new rise in Covid cases this summer. It’s all due to a new variant of the FLiRT virus. According to the centers, over the past two weeks, strains of this group have been identified in 28.2% of those infected with COVID-19. According to immunologist Vladimir Bolibok, a new group of FLiRT viruses has been spreading around the world for several years. months. . Like all previous ones, it may well reach Russia, where the predominant variant of covid JN.1 is still spreading. But, the doctor believes, there is no need to worry: the new strains are a different type of omicrons, and they are not much different from their predecessors – The first wave of omicrons took place in February 2022 in Russia. And since then it has been circulating among us. As usual, a mutation has occurred and the virus bypasses the immunity developed through other strains and vaccination. Therefore, most likely, one day it will reach us,” Bolibok told MSK1.RU. The molecular biologist, head of the laboratory of biotechnology and virology of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of NSU also says that there are new coronaviruses. . no more dangerous than the Sergei Netesov University omicron. In his opinion, with the advent of FLIRT in Russia, a slight increase in incidence is possible. But this will not be accompanied by an increase in the number of deaths. There is no need to worry at all, because a tense nervous system weakens the body. People who have risk factors just need to be careful. In public places it is necessary to wear respirators or masks,” he noted in a conversation with MSK1.RU.209. Symptoms. The symptoms of the new Covid strains are still the same: fever, cough, nasal congestion, runny nose. Sometimes they arise. Signs of the first variant of COVID-19 are loss of taste and smell. But for Omicron this is not the most obvious symptom,” emphasized Vladimir Bolibok. “The difference between coronavirus and other viruses is that a person suddenly becomes weak, he cannot do anything. anything, even getting out of bed Omicron affects the bronchopulmonary system, causing increased blood clotting and viral pneumonia. The virus is also insidious in that a person often carries it asymptomatically, but he can still develop complications: thrombosis, heart attacks, strokes, fasting. -Covid state – Post-Covid state is a very bad situation when a person has no strength, there is some kind of physical stress – the heart is beating, the head is hard to think. Gastritis, prostatitis is getting worse, strange. an allergy appears,” Bolibok once explained in a report on this topic. The world literature describes 209 symptoms that people may complain about. Vladimir Bolibok, immunologist. Particular care should be taken by people over 65 years of age, patients with type 1-2 diabetes mellitus, those who have undergone organ transplantation and cancer patients. The incidence rate is increasing in the city, they should wear masks or respirators again and protect themselves from infection in public places,” said Sergei Netesov. “The vaccine cannot be trusted. “There is a new group of coronavirus strains neither in Russia nor in other countries of the world,” says Netesov. – Now we don’t even have a vaccine against the variants of Covid that appeared last fall – Abroad, they try to make vaccines against new strains about once every six months. But remember: this FLIRT appeared and even. In the best case scenario, a vaccine against it will appear no earlier than in 3-4 months. But with our technologies, with Russian ones, we will have to wait almost a year,” explained the molecular biologist. Therefore there is. there is no point in relying on a vaccine, there is no vaccine against the current variants Sergei Netesov, molecular biologist Vladimir Bolibok, the essence of the problem is that Russia has reduced financial programs to combat coronavirus. As a result, their production also decreased. As Nikolay Bespalov, development director of the analytical company RNC Pharma, told MSK1.RU, “In 2022–2023, the production of vaccines for the prevention of COVID-19 decreased significantly compared to the acute one. pandemic phase in 2021. In 2022, 11.2 million doses were supplied to the domestic market, in 2023 – 13.2 million, and in the first quarter of 2024, deliveries amounted to about 1.86 million – almost 80% less than in the same period. in 2022,” Bespalov said. The Covid issue has faded into the background, if not into the background, but the situation may get worse. Then it will be necessary to quickly increase production, and the technical capabilities for this are there, the expert believes. According to him, this year the bulk of the vaccine used is the drug Convasel from the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums. Why are there so few vaccines? In October 2023, the director of the Gamaleya NF Center, Alexander Gintsburg, said that the Sputnik V vaccine had lost its protective properties against coronavirus. The thing is that coronavirus very often changes its antigenic structure, so it is necessary to regularly develop new vaccine options. However, last year, apparently, they did not have time to do this. In December, scientists managed to release a new antigenic composition of the Sputnik V vaccine. At the time, it protected against all circulating strains of coronaviruses. But at the Gamaleya Center there are no strains from the FLiRT group, so it is unknown whether the vaccine can protect Russians from the new variant of the virus, Gunzburg told MSK1.RU – Moreover, according to the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Yuryevna Popova, we do not have FLiRT in our country. I don’t really believe in it. Its contagiousness (contagiousness – editor’s note) is increasing. Two months ago, 70 people died here. [от коронавируса] per week is now about 50, which is 3.5-4 times more than with the flu, the microbiologist specified. According to Gintsburg, since December the Gamaleya Center has released 600 thousand doses of the updated vaccine into civilian circulation, but this is “…an absolutely ridiculous amount.” indications, and it is not purchased centrally, but from each region independently – In order for it to be purchased with budget money, there must be an indication from local authorities that the epidemiological situation is such that we must purchase this vaccine. But if you know, Rospotrebnadzor keeps talking and saying that you don’t need to get vaccinated against Covid-19,” Ginzburg said. Therefore, this is not a scientific or organizational issue, but a purely administrative issue of the Gamaleya Science Foundation Center, the microbiologist believes. that the vaccine will be supplied in sufficient quantities only when Rospotrebnadzor recognizes the situation with coronavirus infection as dangerous and gives a signal about the need to vaccinate the population. We are not preparing masks; we are also thinking about creating a combined vaccine that will protect the population from influenza and coronavirus. But if the situation with influenza is more or less clear, then it is impossible to predict Covid mutations. from this panel. The coronavirus, you see, has a completely incomprehensible structure. It produces several new strains per year. It is also unclear how long this will continue,” Bolibok explained. However, we should not wait for a new pandemic, the immunologist believes. Of course, everything will depend on the intensity of the growing impact, but given the wave of infections that has begun in Europe, this will not be a disaster – the incidence will increase, but it is unlikely that any restrictive measures will be introduced. such as mask regime, social isolation, quarantine, etc. Everyone should have their own responsibility, their own health. It is advisable that people at risk find the opportunity to get vaccinated,” he concluded. The MSK1.RU correspondent also sent an official request to the press service of Rospotrebnadzor to find out whether the number of coronavirus cases has increased and how the agency plans to do this. . to cope with a potential wave of infection. We previously wrote that the anti-coronavirus drug Avifavir has disappeared from Russian pharmacies. It was prescribed to patients with COVID-19 to reduce the viral load in the body and alleviate the course of the disease. In January, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, preparations for a new pandemic “X”, which does not yet exist, but which is already expected to kill 20 times more people than due to covid, were discussed. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said we must prepare for new health crises. What disease threatens us with the apocalypse and when a new pandemic will occur, read our material.
New coronaviruses from the FLiRT group have appeared, doctors talk about symptoms and consequences, why there is no vaccine for covid – May 23, 2024.
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