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It spreads at lightning speed in the Amazon, despite herd immunity
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In the middle of the Amazon rainforest, the mysterious mutation of the crown is taking over.
The city of Manaus should have won herd immunity; instead, the death toll is rising alarmingly fast.
– Perhaps the mutation passes into the immune system, we do not know, says Ali Mirazimi, professor of clinical virology.
People collapsed in the street, on the way to the hospital. Located in the corridors of the emergency rooms, waiting in vain for oxygen. Bodies buried in the reddish brown soil in endless rows.
The images feel familiar and so do they. Manaus was hit by the pandemic about a year ago. At that time it ravaged mercilessly and around 75 percent of the population was infected with covid-19.
The researchers believed that the city had thus achieved herd immunity.
But on January 2 of this year the new mutation, called P.1, was discovered. A few weeks later, the nightmare scenes returned.
Photo: Edmar Barros / TT
The mutation of the crown causes victims in the Amazon rainforest.
Photo: Felipe Dana / TT
The city of Manaus is largely surrounded by water.
So what happened?
Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard University, comes to a grim conclusion.
“Although we do not know exactly why this variant has been so successful in Brazil, we can say that all possible explanations are bad,” he told the Daily Mail.
Vaccines may be less effective
One theory is that those who were infected a year ago have already lost their immunity and are therefore re-infected.
What contradicts the argument is that the number of known cases of reinfection, seen around the world, is very small.
This has led researchers to suspect that the crown P.1 variant somehow manages to pass the immune system. In that case, it would mean that the vaccine would be less effective.
– But we don’t know yet. The available data is very poor, says KI researcher Ali Mirazimi.
– There is a hypothesis that the Brazilian variant passes into the immune system and now we are testing it, and trying to show that it is not possible.
Photo: KI
Ali Mirazimi, professor and clinical virologist.
Photo: Felipe Dana / TT
Graves for victims since April 2020.
Studies on the mutation have been started, but no answers have yet been provided. However, Ali Mirazimi is hopeful that commercially available vaccines will work against P.1.
– The Brazilian variant is very similar to that found in South Africa, and the vaccine has worked there. Sure, they have lost some antibodies, but they still have an effect, he says.
“The terrifying mutations are coming”
The P.1 mutation has the ability to bind more closely to human cells and prevent an attack from the body’s antibodies. It is estimated to be 50 percent more contagious than the original coronavirus.
That it appeared in Manaus is probably not a coincidence. High herd immunity and overcrowding can be important factors. The fact that the city is also inhabited, largely surrounded by water and dense forests, reduces the population’s opportunities to receive care and vaccinations.
The virus variant now completely dominates among disease cases and is spreading rapidly in the rest of Brazil as well.
But Ali Mirazimi is not worried. He believes that the current mutations that abound are relatively harmless.
– Scary mutations occur when we have vaccinated most of the people. So there may be variants that vaccines don’t bite. But hopefully by then we will have had time to develop new vaccines, he says.
Photo: Felipe Dana / TT
It is not yet known with certainty if the vaccines developed are as effective in the new mutation.
Photo: Fotoarena / TT
On January 2 of this year, the new mutation, called P.1, was discovered.
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