{"id":1525714,"date":"2022-06-22T11:34:52","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T15:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1525714"},"modified":"2022-06-22T11:34:56","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T15:34:56","slug":"scientists-are-worried-about-a-pair-of-new-covid-subvariants-that-may-attack-lungs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scientists-are-worried-about-a-pair-of-new-covid-subvariants-that-may-attack-lungs\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Are Worried About A Pair Of New COVID Subvariants That May Attack Lungs"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fscientists-are-worried-about-a-pair-of-new-covid-subvariants-that-may-attack-lungs%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1525714&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Scientists are worried about a couple new strains of SARS-CoV-2, noting that the variants appear to be able to slip past some antibodies against the virus and attack the lungs, according to a new report.<\/p>\n<p>The subvariants of the now-dominant Omicron variant \u2014 dubbed BA.4 and BA.5 \u2014 \u201cseem to partially dodge antibodies from past infection or vaccination, making them more transmissible than other forms of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,\u201d The Daily Beast <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/this-may-be-the-covid-variant-scientists-are-dreading?source=articles&#038;via=rss\">reported<\/a>. \u201cThere are also some suggestions that the new subvariants have evolved to target the lungs \u2014 unlike Omicron, which usually resulted in a less dangerous infection of the upper respiratory tract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Omicron variant has proven more contagious than earlier strains of the virus, but symptoms are most often far less severe. Scientists are hopeful the same holds true for the new subvariants, and so far in the United Kingdom, where the variants have been found, hospitalizations and deaths are down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis could mean higher transmissible variants, BA.4 or 5, are in play, [and] these variants are much less severe,\u201d Edwin Michael, an epidemiologist at the Center for Global Health Infectious Disease Research at the University of South Florida, told the Beast.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the new subvariants appear able to sneak past antibodies that have been built up either via vaccines or having been infected with COVID.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe grandchildren of the basic Omicron variant that first appeared in the fall of 2021, BA.4 and BA.5 both feature a trio of major mutations to their spike protein, the part of the virus that helps it to grab onto and infect our cells,\u201d the Beast reported. \u201cEric Bortz, a University of Alaska-Anchorage virologist and public-health expert, described BA.4 and BA.5 as \u2018immunologically distinct sublineages.\u2019 In other words, they interact with our antibodies in surprising new ways.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While COVID fatigue has certainly set in across the U.S., the World Health Organization (WHO) warned last month that the pandemic is \u201cmost certainly not over,\u201d according to WHO head Tedros Ghebreyesus.<\/p>\n<p>Although deaths from COVID have dropped precipitously, the WHO head said \u201cwe lower our guard at our peril,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2022\/05\/1118752\">according<\/a> to the United Nations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, is COVID-19 over? No, it\u2019s most certainly not over. I know that\u2019s not the message you want to hear, and it\u2019s definitely not the message I want to deliver,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Ghebreyesus told officials gathered in Geneva for the opening of the WHO\u2019s annual meeting that declining testing and sequencing means \u201cwe are blinding ourselves to the evolution of the virus.\u201d In addition, he said that while billions are vaccinated against the virus, nearly one billion people in lower-income countries still are not.<\/p>\n<p>While some 60% of the world\u2019s population is vaccinated, he said, \u201cit\u2019s not over anywhere until it\u2019s over everywhere.\u201d Ghebreyesus mentioned that \u201cReported cases are increasing in almost 70 countries in all regions,\u201d the U.N. reported. \u201cAnd this in a world in which testing rates have plummeted,\u201d the WHO head added.<\/p>\n<p><em>Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists are worried about a couple new strains of SARS-CoV-2, noting that the variants appear to be able to slip past some antibodies against the virus and attack the lungs, according to a new report. The subvariants of the now-dominant Omicron variant \u2014 dubbed BA.4 and BA.5 \u2014 \u201cseem to partially dodge antibodies from past &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":1513636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1525714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1525714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1513636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1525714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1525714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1525714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}