Covid Eris: What to know about the new EG.5 variant dominating US cases

NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) – COVID infections and hospitalizations are rising in the United States, Europe and Asia. Health officials are targeting the EG.5 “Eris” coronavirus, a subvariant of the Omicron lineage that originally emerged in November 2021.

WHAT IS THE NEW ‘ERIS’ VARIANT?

The World Health Organization (WHO) classified EG.5which has been dubbed “Eris” by some, as a “variant of interest”, indicating that it should be watched more closely than others for mutations that could make it more contagious or severe.

Still, the WHO said that at this time it does not appear to pose a greater threat to public health than other variants and that “there is no evidence of an increase in disease severity directly associated with EG.5.”

HOW FAST DOES ‘ERIS’ SPREAD?

EG.5 had been found in more than 50 countries as of August 8, according to the WHO. It is the most common and fastest-growing subvariant of COVID-19 in the US, estimated to be responsible for about 17% of current COVID cases, according to the CDC.

COVID-19-related hospitalizations are up more than 40% from recent lows reached in June, but are still more than 90% below the peak levels reached during the Omicron outbreak of January 2022, according to CDC data. .

The number of viruses identified in wastewater across the country and the number of weekly prescriptions for the COVID-19 Paxlovid treatment have increased significantly over the past month, albeit from low levels.

WHEN WILL THE NEW BOOSTER BE AVAILABLE?

Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE)Modern (MRNA.O) and Novavax (NVAX.O) have created new versions of their updated vaccines to target another Omicron subline, XBB.1.5, to more closely resemble the various circulating strains of the virus.

EG.5 is similar to XBB.1.5, although the newer subvariant carries a mutation in its spike protein, the part of the virus that the vaccine targets.

XBB.1.5 emerged in late 2022 and was still responsible for more than 10% of infections as of August 5, according to CDC estimates. CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a recent interview that she expects the new vaccines to be widely available in the US by the third or fourth week of September.

Cohen did not address the Eris variant specifically, but said that “right now, what we’re seeing with the changes in the viruses, they’re still susceptible to our vaccine, they’re still susceptible to our drugs, they’re still being detected.” for the tests. So all of our tools still work as the virus changes.”

Reporting by Michael Erman; editing by Caroline Humer and Diane Craft

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