In Italy, the Covid situation does not give particular concern, with stable or declining hospital indicators, and the alarm for the spread of Xbb.1.5 (known as Kraken) “it is not a risk for Italy” just as it is not for Europe. In a letter to the editor of the Journal of Medical Virology a group of Italian scientists resizes the “bad sensationalist drift” (the expression is from the virologist Roberto Burioni) on the dangers associated with the latest variant that ended up in the chronicles of half the world. The data speaks only of its ability to spread, observed in recent analyses.
Where was it found?
According to the risk assessment made by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in the last two weeks of last year, the Xbb.1.5 subvariant was responsible for less than 2.5% of infections in the Old Continent. Its rapid run for the authors of the study does not imply that it will become dominant in Europe. Most cases of Covid of its type continue to be registered in the USA, even if Xbb.1.5 has also been officially found in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal , United Kingdom, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
Not proven increased aggression
Not much is known about Kraken’s features yet, however an advantage over the other subvariants appears clear. Recent research taken up by the ECDC shows that Xbb.1.5 is no more capable than its progenitor Xbb.1 of escaping antibodies developed through vaccination or by natural immunity. However, it has a wider recognition capacity of the Ace 2 receptor, the gateway that the virus uses to enter cells. Which makes it inherently more infectious. However, there is no data to indicate greater aggressiveness. Given its characteristics, the ECDC concludes, “there is a risk that this variant could have an effect on the growth in the number of Covid cases” in Europe. “But not within the next month as the variant is currently only present at very low levels.”
High vaccination coverage, no alarm
The danger of an explosion of Kraken infections in our country does not currently worry the scientific community. It is the sense of the stance of Antonello MaruottiProfessor of Statistics at the Lumsa University, Massimo Ciccozzi, head of the Medical Statistics and Epidemiology Unit of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, Francesco Branda of the Department of Computer Engineering, Electronic Modeling and System Engineering of the University of Calabria, and Fabio Scarpa of the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Sassari. «The Kraken sub-variant hasn’t caught on in Italy and Europe and this is confirmed by the data from Gisead – Maruotti specified toberaking latest news Salute – In Europe it stops at 6% and in Italy it is below 2%. The one that continues to grow is Cerberus, now predominant. But we must be calm, in Italy there is a very high vaccination coverage ».
It is essential to have data also from China
Nevertheless, the Italian scientists underline, “to avoid new sudden and unexpected flare-ups with unknown consequences, it is essential to have reliable and timely data also from China on the mutations of the virus and on the prevalence of the individual variants”.