Here’s what you need to know about the XBB.1.5 ‘Kraken’ variant

The omicron variant family tree has grown substantially over the last year. The lineage now encompasses a subvaried mess with alphanumeric names such as BA.2, BA.5 and BF.7. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that two versions — BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 — caused just over half of new infections in the United States during the week ending January 7.

The stranger is now called XBB.1.5 It seems that he rises to rule. According to CDC estimates, it accounts for more than 80 percent of new cases in parts of the United States. In the week after January 14th, it was responsible for 43 percent of new cases nationwide.

But while previous variants like alpha, delta, and the original omicron have been linked to a massive influx of new infections, it’s not yet clear whether XBB.1.5 is destined for a similar path.SN: 12/21/21). The first test subvariant, nicknamed the Kraken in some circles, is more portable than its predecessors. However, that trait is a sign of viral evolution—that new variants are able to outcompete their siblings.SN: 5/26/20).

For now, experts at the World Health Organization are keeping a close eye on XBB.1.5. But it’s too early to say whether he can catch the ball. Most of them come from the United States, Britain and Denmark.

Science News spoke with infectious disease specialist Peter Chin-Hong of the University of California, San Francisco about the latest coronavirus variants to make headlines. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

SN: What is the difference between XBB.1.5 and older versions of omicron?

Chin-Hong: Many variations that occur all the time. The normal thing is that a virus like a virus makes more copies of itself. It is not exactly accurate or precise, so it gives errors; [which are the variants]. It’s kind of like a bad camera in the office.

XBB, the brother of XBB.1.5, was scary – and as seen in the fall of 2022 – it was among the most immune-evasive variants around. But the reason why XBB never took off around the world — it actually took off in Singapore and India — was because it didn’t really infect the cells as well.

XBB.1.5 is immune to slippery XBB, but it also makes this new mutation that makes it easy to infect cells. It’s like a cow that doesn’t want to let go of its cage. But XBB was kind of invisible, like he had an invisibility cloak Harry PotterHe had no bite. But XBB.1.5 has an invisibility cloak, more bite.

SN: Is that why it spreads so effectively in certain areas?

Chin-Hong: we think Because being very effective at infecting cells is a really important superpower if you’re a virus.

You can be invisible [to the immune system] All you want, but if you don’t infect cells efficiently, you probably won’t be as infectious. That can be [the reason] XBB.1.5 slides, which has both futures. Seeing how it is pressing in other variants now makes us anxious to pay attention to it. And it is accompanied by increasing cases and hospitality.

SN: higher variants are associated with major surgical infections. Can we expect the same for XBB.1.5?

Chin-Hong: It is complicated. If it were March 2020, the simple answer would be: Yes. But in January of 2023, you have so much variation in how much experience people have toward COVID, even though it’s a different kind.

You can have someone who gets infected twice as healthy as those who got vaccinated and boosted. He’s going to be really, really well protected from getting seriously ill. Maybe they could catch a cold. Perhaps they do not even know that they have an infection versus someone who has not been vaccinated and has never been exposed and you are older. As of March 2020 for them.

That [second] He is a kind of person, for example, in China. In China, XBB.1.5 would cause a lot of problems. But XBB.1.5 to go, you know, the middle of Manhattan is not going to cause so many problems in a group of highly vaccinated and exposed people.

[Timing also matters] because we’ve seen a lot of BQ.1, BQ.1.1 recently, and many were infected after Thanksgiving. This rise of XBB.1.5 comes after a lot of people have already been infected recently. So maybe you won’t do as much damage as if you’ve been unemployed for a long time and suddenly you have this new one.

SN: Do vaccines and treatments still work against it?

Chin-Hong: New, updated boosters usually work a little better than old vaccines in terms of overall effectiveness and preventing infection. But with these new slippery variants like XBB.1.5 … if you want to stop infections, even mild infections, the vaccines will probably last three months.

But if you’re talking about preventing me from dying or going to the hospital, those vaccines are going to give me protection for many, many months, probably into next winter for most people. For older people, older than 65, if not boosted today, there is a problem.

[Drugs such as] Paxlovid and remdesivir of independent work spike [the part of the virus targeted by vaccines but where many of the defense-evading mutations are (SN: 3/1/22)]. So it doesn’t matter what the invisibility variable wears. They are supposed to work because they work by blocking the virus in the factory, which is one of the first steps, before the protein spike is made.

So it doesn’t matter what you’re working on [spike] the variable intervenes, which is good. Even if you have not been vaccinated or never been exposed, if you are diagnosed and receive early treatment, you will substantially cut the hospitalization rates.

Now, not all monoclonal antibodies work. [The virus has changed too much (SN: 10/17/22).]

SN: Why are so many omicron variants popping up?

Chin-Hong: I think Omicron has hit on the magic formula. It will be hard to kick that push for a gold medal. It’s good at transmission, and all these other reasons are good for the virus.

In [earlier] it was a day two or three months ago, and you had a new coronavirus variant somewhere in the world. Now it’s been two Thanksgivings since then.

SN: With each variant being more transmissible than the last, is it necessary for everyone to get COVID?

Chin-Hong: people who haven’t been infected before will have a really, really hard time avoiding this. But it is not impossible. It’s just going to get harder and harder, not only because XBB.1.5 is so transferable, but also because we don’t have so many restrictions anymore. You’re at the grocery store, no one is wearing a mask, or you don’t feel like you have peer pressure to wear masks. So that you are exposed as if exposed to the cold…

But you can reduce the risk in the short term, if you don’t get it already. And certainly [the booster] it can reduce the risk of dying, especially if you are elderly or immunocompromised….

[People still wearing masks] to put on true Goodness in disguise [such as KN95s] because you can no longer trust other people wearing them.

SN: How should people worry about XBB.1.5?

Chin-Hong: The world is divided into two groups of people. People whose bodies are very, very experienced with COVID – acquired vaccines or boosting or two infections … And then there are people whose bodies do not experience well with COVID. For that [latter] group, they must be concerned.

For he whom you look around is your neighbor, and nothing has happened, or your relative, or a working man, and there is not much like it. But 500 people still die every day in the United States [from COVID]. And for those people, it’s a big deal…

The funny thing is that not everyone has the same level of disability anymore, and different people have different levels of risk.