'Centaurus' subvariant of Omicron: What do we know?

Our lives were much simpler in many ways back at the beginning of 2020. We only had one variant of SARS-CoV-2, the wild type, and we had no idea what the COVID-19 pandemic had in store for us. When scientists started detecting new variants of interest or concern, they initially nicknamed them after the places they had emerged in. The World Health Organization (WHO) made efforts to officially designate Trusted source variants with names from the Greek alphabet in an attempt to curb racist and xenophobic associations, such as those seen when SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was first detected in China. The “Kent variant,” first identified in the United Kingdom, thus became the Alpha variant, and this pattern continued with the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa, and so on. One of those, named BA.2.75 in the Pangeo lineage system used by virologists and the WHO, has been nicknamed Centaurus on the back of a single tweet , which caught on unexpectedly well. Many people and headlines are now referring to the Centaurus variant in much the same way as they referred to the Delta and Beta variants, as though it were its official name. Experts first detected this variant in India in May, where it was reportedly spreading more rapidly than other Omicron subvariants. Spyros Lytras, who is a doctoral researcher in virology at the University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, told Medical News Today. The so-called Centaurus variant is not the first Omicron subvariant to be detected, nor is it the only subvariant being monitored at the moment. Dr. Elling said: “What the data indicate is that BA.2.75 is particularly suited to overcome the immune protection generated by Delta while it is similar to other Omicron lineages after vaccination. However, it must be said that the data are very preliminary and based on few patients, as well as generated with pseudovirus as opposed to real BA.2.75 isolates, so we really must await further results.” These data suggest that BA.2.75 has a higher affinity for ACE2 receptors, the receptor found in many human tissues to which the SARS-CoV-2 virus binds to gain entry to human cells and replicate. One other study whose findings were shared as a preprint by a team in Japan, generated pseudoviruses harboring the spike proteins of BA.2.75, BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2, and exposed them to monoclonal antibodies that are used as a treatment for people with COVID-19, but which would be less effective if the variant was able to escape the antibodies present in it. The current level of testing is also too low to be able to tell if the BA.2.75 variant would become the dominant variant in the next wave, said Dr. Elling. “Anyway, the big open question is if we will remain in the Omicron clade this winter or if an old variant makes a revival. Delta is still detected for example and as we know virus remains hidden in immune suppressed patients for more than a year before it resurfaces as a new variant. A year ago there was Delta all over, no Omicron,” he pointed out.