Dr. Gligic: Sooner or later Lambda strain will reach Serbia. It's still far away, but more dangerous

Photo: Screenshot Youtube/RTS

The Lambda variant of coronavirus, with three mutations on the spike protein, which make is both more contagious and more resistant to antibodies, has been discovered in 30 countries so far.

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Sooner or later, as virologist Dr. Ana Gligic tells the daily Novosti, we can expect it in Serbia as well. The former head of the National Reference Laboratory for smallpox and other viruses, however, does not agree with projections made by most epidemiologists in our country that coronavirus could strike harder than before. On the contrary, based on decades of experience in virology, she is convinced that coronavirus is weakening, although not at the speed that could have be expected, and that this fourth wave will not reach the size of the previous one, when Serbia registered up to almost 8,000 new cases per day.

On Tuesday, the virus was confirmed in 792 people, three died, while the number of hospitalized patients was up by 30 compared to the day before. The new, triple mutant is certainly a new global threat, but the possible dimensions of that threat are not yet known. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared this mutation a "variant that is studied" but Japanese scientists who have completed their studies believe that Lambda meets all conditions to be declared a "concerning variant."

"As has been the case with other strains (of coronavirus), it can be expected that we will discover this mutant variant not in the first one person that brings it, but when it's already in the population," says Dr. Gligic, and adds:

"That is why the most important thing is the impression from the field: as soon as you see changes in the clinical picture and the speed of transmission, you know that something new has been incorporated. No strain can be localized."

According to Japanese scientists, one mutation on the spike of the Lambda variant protein, which was discovered a year ago in Peru, has the consequence of lessening the ability of antibodies to neutralize the virus. This means that vaccinated people and those who recovered from Covid have reduced resistance to it. The other two mutations increase Lambda's transmission rate.

"Even after a year and a half since the beginning of the pandemic, we have not put together the puzzle and there are still things we don't know about coronavirus, but the fact that 90 percent of hospitalized Covid patients have not been vaccinated is enough to know that vaccines 'work'," says Dr. Gligic.

"If we count everyone who got infected since the beginning of the epidemic, and the 50.2 percent of adults who received at least one dose, that is high collective immunity. The Delta strain after all produces a lighter clinical picture, which is a sign that the virus is weakening, but has a greater transmission rate. Most of those infected now have the clinical picture similar to the common cold, and that, along with the fact that more severe forms of the disease develop only in unvaccinated people, is a sign that we do not need the third dose of the vaccine. Work should be done to vaccinate as many people as possible with the first two."

(Telegraf.rs)