(Bloomberg) – A surge in new coronavirus infections detected in sewage has led some scientists to believe that the JN.1 strain responsible for the explosive winter infection surge selectively attacks people’s intestinal tracts. There are suspicions that the government is targeting people.
The evidence is very limited and theoretical, and there is no data to suggest that more people are experiencing severe gastrointestinal illness from coronavirus. But Sydney virologist Stuart Turvill said there was no question the coronavirus had changed its requirements for entering cells. This may be consistent with more efficient infection of certain tissues, including the intestine.
This is just one of the many debates swirling around JN.1. This variant is so contagious and immune-evasive that some scientists believe it needs its own Greek name to distinguish it from its more contagious ancestor, Omicron.
“That entry route is very different from what we observed in 2020,” said Turvill, who has been tracking the virus’ entry route since the pandemic began in his lab at the University of New South Wales. . “We are now at the top of this trajectory.”
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JN.1 is the fastest growing variant that has emerged over the past two years. The World Health Organization on Tuesday designated it a variant of interest because of its rapid proliferation and potential to increase respiratory viral load in the Northern Hemisphere. According to the organization, modern booster formulations should provide sufficient protection against it.
The strain emerged in August from the hypermutated BA.2.86, a variant of Pyrrha. Pirola wasn’t particularly noteworthy, but scientists at the University of Tokyo reported earlier this month that the distinctive mutation that produces JN.1 makes it more infectious and immune-evasive.
quick rise
JN.1 is accelerating the year-end Covid wave. In the United States, the virus accounts for up to 29% of circulating strains as of December 8, and the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 is rapidly increasing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was announced last week. It warned that low vaccination rates against coronavirus and other respiratory diseases could lead to more severe illness and strain on health systems for the rest of the winter.
Detections in wastewater are increasing uniformly and exponentially in multiple countries, including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Singapore.
“People are detecting this virus in their wastewater at rates as high as they detected Omicron when it first emerged,” said Kanta Subbarao, director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Influenza Reference Research in Melbourne. Ta. Covid vaccine composition. “But so far, we haven’t seen a concomitant increase in hospitalizations or a concomitant increase. I think we need to watch that space.”
further clues
Subbarao, who is also a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Peter Doherty Institute of Infection and Immunology at the University of Melbourne, said the increase in emergency department visits and other healthcare utilization data could provide clues to the severity of the disease caused by JN.1. He said he would provide. “We don’t know if it’s become more gut-related, for example,” she says.
The wastewater findings may reflect high circulation in the community rather than more frequent or more intense enteric infections that result in large or prolonged shedding of coronavirus in the stool.
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In the Netherlands, which has been tracking symptom data since 2020, there were not many reports of diarrhea among people infected with the new coronavirus as of November.
virus target
Coronaviruses have long been proven to be adept at infecting the intestines. Since the Delta variant was replaced by Omicron in late 2021, we have observed a trend away from lower lung infections.
Turvill’s research provides a plausible explanation for this change and why JN.1 prefers the gastrointestinal tract, says Turvill, a self-taught schoolteacher who has conducted genomic research and is involved in the evolution of pandemic viruses. said Ryan Hizner, who identified the key changes.
Still, “it’s not clear,” Hissner said. “There is no direct evidence.”
He said it’s difficult to disentangle the inherent changes in the virus from the important role vaccinations and past infections have played in stimulating the immune system to recognize and attack the virus before it reaches the lungs. said.
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Even if the disease pattern is not substantially changed by JN.1, the virus is definitely taking a new route into cells, Turvill said. While past versions have preferentially latched onto truncated versions of the ACE-2 cell surface protein, the new variant shows the coronavirus’s strongest predilection to date for non-cleaved versions of the cell doorway.
“I don’t think it will go any further than JN.1,” Turvill said. “JN.1 is very extreme. The key is to understand what tissue niche this inhabits.”
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