A new subvariant of the coronavirus, the prevalence of which is observed in certain parts of the world, is circulating in Canada, confirms the federal public health agency, according to which this new strain has been present in the country since May, in less.
While experts say this sublineage of Omicron – EG.5, better known as Eris – appears to be more infectious and able to sneak past our immune defences, there is little evidence to suggest that it causes more severe symptoms than its predecessors.
It’s something to definitely watch closely, but I’m not really worried at this point.
says Dr. Syra Madad, an epidemiologist at the Harvard Belfer Center.
This strain of the coronavirus may nevertheless have caused 36% of the positive cases of COVID-19 detected between July 30 and August 5, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) confirmed by email to CBC, the network English from Radio-Canada.
I’PHAC She also said she was made aware that traces of Eris were found 36 times in municipal sewage across the country between May 15 and July 21.
For the moment, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not consider this new strain of the coronavirus to be of particular concern. It nevertheless classified Eris as a variant under surveillance last month.
Modeling data from the United States suggests that the new strain is responsible for 17.3% of all new COVID-19 cases reported in the country for two weeks, a high among all variants in circulation .
“Eris” is gaining ground in France, England and the United States. What is the situation with us? Daniel Bouchard discussed this with Dr. Perez, an infectious disease specialist at Kingston General Hospital.
Currently, some parts of Canada are seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, according to recent data.
Analysis of the country’s sewage earlier this summer had shown some of the lowest levels of COVID-19 since 2020. But as of July 27, at least 7 of the 39 sites tracked by the dashboard on the surveillance of COVID-19 in Canadian wastewater (New window) showed an increase.
In Ontario, for example, data showed that test positivity had increased from around 5% to almost 7% in one month.
In recent weeks, the United States has also seen an increase in cases and hospitalizations, but it is not known whether the new variant is to blame.
What do we know about Eris?
EG.5, or Eris, is a subvariant of Omicron – which remains the most common version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Canada.
Virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Angela Rasmussen says Omicron is like thegreat grandfather
of all subsequent sub-variants.
Omicron is a family, and the subvariants are the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of that family
she summarizes.
A mathematician and epidemiologist at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Dr. Caroline Colijn believes that mutations in EG.5 likely make it more infectious than the XBB subvariants of Omicron that preceded it. .
Member of an interdisciplinary team of researchers called CoVaRR-NetDr. Colijn suspects that there may be an increase in COVID-19 cases caused by Eris in the coming months, but she does not anticipate an increase. huge autumn wave
.
According to her, there is also no indication that this subvariant would cause more severe symptoms of COVID-19, the population being largely immune to the disease.
And it’s still too early, according to Dr. Colijn, to know whether Eris causes symptoms different from those caused by other offshoots of Omicron that have already been documented in the past.
It doesn’t seem like [le sous-variant] causes an increase in the severity of the disease or [qu’il ait] an impact on current vaccines and treatments.
According to the email of thePHAC, traces of Eris have been found all over the country. The agency, however, did not specify where.
I’PHAC claims that its scientists actively monitor and evaluate EG.5 lines
and that they are looking for clues that would show that these have an impact on the severity of COVID-19, on its contagiousness or on the effectiveness of diagnostic tests, vaccines and treatments related to disease.
The supervision exercised by CoVaRR-Net also revealed that the subvariant is in Canada and its prevalence is climbing by 8% per day, says Dr. Colijn.
Eris has also been detected in the United States, Europe and Asia. According to’WHOthe first documented samples of the subvariant appeared in our southern neighbors in February.
When to get a booster dose?
Last month, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) said the next round of COVID-19 vaccines will likely be monovalent.
These vaccines will specifically target the XBB subvariants of Omicron. And since Eris is the offspring of these, the booster doses that will be made available to Canadians this fall should also protect against it, says Dr. Prabhat Jha, scientist for the Unity Health Toronto hospital network.
We don’t envision the new variant being so different from others that vaccines won’t be able to provide protection against it.
There is also enough data to say that vaccines designed to fight against a particular variant can have a much wider effect, underlines Dr. Angela Rasmussen.
The new series of vaccines will not completely prevent the spread
of the virus, agrees the specialist. But the previous ones have always provided very strong protection against hospitalization and death
she clarifies, adding that some studies further suggest increased immunization against long-lasting COVID.
For those most at risk — those who are elderly, immunocompromised, or have a chronic medical condition — Dr. Jha says it’s best to speak with your family doctor to see if one should get a dose of recall right away or wait for the new vaccines that will be available this fall.
In general, however, the two experts say that to protect themselves, Canadians should: wear a mask in crowded indoor places; make sure you get the most recent vaccine against COVID-19, especially if you are a vulnerable person; and, if necessary, take a home test to find out whether to stay at home.
I think we now know how to live with the virus, acknowledges Dr Jha. But living with the virus means being careful, not indifferent. And making sure that we use all the tools that are available to us.
With information from CBC
