22D (BA.2.75) is now available on CoVariants! It's visible as part of Per Country & Per Variant plots, on the shared mutation page - and of course, has a page of its own!
On the 22D page, you can read about some initial 22D / BA.2.75 work on things like immune-evasion, see a list of defining mutations, a plot of the variant growth, link to Aquaria protein viz, & see a list of other mutations present in the variant.
Here, we can zoom in on the clade & get a closer look at how 22D sequences are distributed around the world, & their diversity.
4/8
On the Per Country page, 22D / BA.2.75 is currently only readily visible in India, where it likely originated & is most common, as well as a little in Japan. Over the next few weeks, it'll be possible to see if it grows in other countries.
Finally, on the Shared Mutations page (very hard to capture in a picture now, with the Omicrons!), you can see how 22D's / BA.2.75's Spike mutations compare to other VoC, including its Omicron siblings.
More information on 22D / BA.2.75 will become available in due course.
As always, CoVariants.org is open-source & we welcome your PRs & suggestions to add more studies & information to variant pages! (Or any error-catching!)
As before, I've created a file for 22D / BA.2.75 mapping all defining mutations (relative to ancestral), including nuc->AA. This is available on CoV github!
Huge 🙏🏻 to all who helped check it! (Esp @DoktorYak & Anna N!) (Further feedback welcome!)
As I mentioned yesterday, from today we switch the Per Variants page to 2-week intervals without smoothing & fixed the "New Year bug" - making interpretation clearer & cleaner! 🎉
Previously, Per Country was by 2-weeks (unsmoothed) & Per Variant was 1-week (smoothed) - this made reconciling numbers confusing & unintuitive. The change makes all of that easier!
2/7
As part of this, you'll notice the graphs look a little more jumpy & angular 📐. That's what happens when smoothing turns off!
But, it more closely represents the real data - I think this is a worthy trade-off!
So far, #monkeypox seems generally mild (if sometimes very painful & physically scarring) - but is that enough not to worry?
I still think we need to consider our response carefully.
If it continues to be hard to contain, what are the medical *and* social risks?
1/14
At the moment, the #monkeypox outbreak impacts some parts of our world & society more than others - this is always dangerous as it makes dismissal easier. It's not threatening 'most of us' - at least not right now.
🗒️CoVariants.org announcement🗒️
Currently on the Per Variants page, we use 1-week counts + smoothing. We're hoping to move away from this in the near future, & change to 2-week unsmoothed (same as we do for Per Country) for consistency.
If you regularly use the Per Variant data & are concerned about any impacts from this change, please feel free to reach out on our Github Discussions page!
As an update, this'll probably get merged in tomorrow morning (CET), so please do shout soon! File format will *not* change, but the interpretation will change slightly - and be closer to the raw numbers (thanks to getting rid of smoothing).
The speed at which BA.4/5 has dominated in Europe & caused rising cases is remarkable - but it isn't surprising at this point.
Summer waves are entirely possible, & scientists have been watching BA.4/5 for quite a while. CoVariants.org/cases
The good news is that vaccines/previous infection still seems to provide good protection against serious outcomes (hospitalization, death) from BA.4/5
But, they have (yet again) increased immune evasion, meaning reinfection very possible, with mild-moderate disease course.
However, the rise in cases is being reflected, in many places, in a rise in hospitalizations. Mostly that's not causing too much strain, but it's worth monitoring.
The disruption is also being felt: people are out sick, causing some staff shortages.
Reminder that the *entire* point of Greek letter is precisely *because* anyone _can_ name a variant. That's how we end up with potentially inaccurate & discriminatory names.
If we/@WHO don't provide useful names for use, alternative names will start to appear. #CentaurusStrain
We got lucky in a way with the 'first level' BA's (BA.1-BA.5) because they're simple enough for everyone to use & repeat.
But Pango lineages by nature can sometimes be more unwieldy: like BA.2.75 (which isn't even so bad). People start using shorthand!
Yes, we can ask people *not* to make up their own names.
But all we can do is ask.
If we don't address *why* people are coming up with alternative names - because they need an easier, recognisable handle - we run the risk they'll do it anyway. 💁🏻♀️
At #MCIDdynamics/#HumanViruses conference:
- Everyone tested on arrival
- All masked (except speakers while speaking) in sessions
- All breaks/lunch/posters outside
- Sewage monitoring in the housing
The most comfortable I've been at a conference recently. Organizers take note!
Doing things outside is much easier in San Diego than, say Texas 🥵 (where I am now) or many places in Europe 🌧️.
But requesting tests, masking, & ventilation are things that can be done anywhere. With cases rising in many places, we deserve to make conferences safer for all.
In particular, poster sessions - historically crowded, hot, & full of people drinking & talking loudly - are worth a rethink. Can we move them outside? To a much, much larger room? Open all doors/windows? Space them out? Encourage masking?
Worth considering creative solutions!