The Covid continues to change as the months pass, generating new variations. In the United States Today, the spread of the disease is worrying KP.2one new variant of SARS-CoV-2 which is already prevailing over the previous one, namely the JN.1.
The experts in one study Published on bioRxivas the newspaper also reports Republicthey observed an alteration in the structure of the Spike protein it’s a greater resistance to existing vaccinesand all this seems to be a prelude to a possible new summer wave of infectionsrunning the risk that it could spread throughout Europe, including Italy.
Therefore, the KP.2 variant, which is rapidly gaining ground in the USA, is part of the group of so-called variants “FLIRT“: this is a series of mutations of SARS-CoV-2, distant descendants of Omicron, which developed starting from JN.1, the prevalent variant of last winter’s infections. However, being rather recent variants, the researchers are still studying their nature, especially to measure their degree of transmissibility and their ability to resist vaccines.
“We have a population in which immunity to the virus has waned, and this increases collective vulnerability to new SarsCoV2 infections – has explained Thomas A. Russohead of the department of infectious diseases at the Jacobs School of Medicine at the University of Buffalo, United States. If I look into my crystal ball I would say that, considering the various factors at play with the new mutation, we will probably have a new wave next summer, or in any case an increase in cases and hospitalizations”.
Even the epidemiologist Pier Luigi Lopalco, does not rule out a possible summer wave in Italy. For this reason, regarding the general situation throughout the world, he states: “The virus has taken on a more or less seasonal dimension, as happens with the normal flu, especially in autumn-winter. Only when a particularly efficient variant emerges could it turn into a summer “mini wave”.“. And he concludes: “KP.2, currently growing in the United States, could certainly also affect Italy, but in terms of symptoms I don’t think it can have a heavier impact than seasonal flu: we won’t see full emergency rooms. Despite this, however, we don’t stop monitoring“.
