New Covid-19 variant may be ‘reason to worry’: What is known about ‘Pirola’ so far

Source: The post is based on the article “New Covid-19 variant may be ‘reason to worry’: What is known about ‘Pirola’ so far” published in Indian Express on 6th September 2023

What is the News?

An article published in the Yale Medicine Review has noted the rise of Covid-19 infections in multiple countries driven by a new Coronavirus variant called BA.2.86 which is informally being termed ‘Pirola’.

What is Pirola?

Pirola is a newly designated highly mutating Omicron variant of Covid-19 virus.

It was first spotted in Denmark and has now spread to other countries like the US, Canada and Israel.

Pirola differs from previous variants of Omicron as it has more than 30 spike protein mutations.This gives it the capacity to be immune, evasive and highly transmissible.

It is currently in the WHO list of  ‘variants under monitoring’.

How do viruses mutate, exactly?

It is natural for all viruses to mutate over time and such changes are particularly common in viruses that have RNA as their genetic material as in the case of coronaviruses and influenza viruses.

Once a virus enters the human body, its genetic material — RNA or DNA — enters the cells and starts making copies of itself which can infect the other cells.Whenever an error occurs during this copying process, it triggers a mutation.

Occasionally, a mutation comes along when the genetic mistakes that are introduced while copying prove to be advantageous for the virus — these help the virus copy itself or enter human cells more easily. 

Whenever a virus is widely circulating in a population, the more it spreads and replicates, its chances of mutating increases.