Pirola derived from ‘earlier’ coronavirus strain – and may resists vaccines

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Experts fear the Pirola strain derives from an "earlier branch" of the coronavirus, meaning it differs and could be resistant to current vaccines.

Alarm bells were raised after a case of the BA.2.86 variant was first recorded in Britain on August 18, making it one of only six confirmed cases globally.

Nicknamed 'Pirola', the strain has also been detected in Israel, Denmark and more and more widely throughout the US, the Mirror reports.

READ MORE: Seven Covid-19 variants and symptoms to watch out for as new strain found in UK

And Dr Aaron Glatt, a medic at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, told the Daily Mail that the variant's mutations are a worry, despite little being known about the strain yet.

"Does this variant have a survival advantage over other strains?" he asked.

It is thought it could have had as many as 30 changes in its protein make-up, meaning previous infections and vaccines may not offer as much protection.

The strain was placed under the World Health Organisation's monitoring list on Thursday (August 17) due to the "large number of mutations it carries."

Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute at University College London, said the new strain is “the most striking SARS-CoV-2 strain the world has witnessed since the emergence of Omicron”.

He added that although it is striking, Pirola is not expected to cause the same level of disease and death that earlier strains did.

“Even in the worst-case scenario where BA.2.86 caused a major new wave of cases, we are not expecting to witness comparable levels of severe disease and death than we did earlier in the pandemic when the Alpha, Delta or Omicron variants spread," Balloux said.

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UCL's Clinical Operational Research Unit's Professor Christina Pagel said there is "still plenty of potential for it to be a nothingburger" as other experts said the variant may "fizzle out".

Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist and lead for the Covid response at the WHO, said information on the new strain is limited as she claimed a number of mutations needed closer monitoring due to sheer number of changes.

She wrote on X, previously known as Twitter: "Surveillance, sequencing and Covid-19 reporting critical to track known and detect new variants."

As far as what the strain can do to you, it's much the same as other variants but with less intensity. The symptoms are high fever, cough, cold and loss of sense of taste or smell.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it was “assessing the situation” following confirmation that the strain had reached the UK.

It is reported that the unidentified patient with the strain in the UK, who tested positive while in a London hospital, had not left the country so would not have become infected abroad.

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