This strain would now be present in nearly 35% of viruses sequenced in France. A percentage that must be taken “with caution”, warns our colleagues Mircea Sofonea, lecturer at the University of Montpellier, referring to “sampling bias”. It concerns “a limited number of positive tests, knowing that these are not representative of the infections either”, he continues. However, these estimates are in line with those “that we have for other countries”. Like the United States, where the variant is gaining ground, or the United Kingdom.
More resistant, virulence unknown
This variant belongs to the Omicron group and the XBB lineage. “This is the XBB sub-line. 1.9, which gained two successive mutations,” adds the researcher. Mutations that would guarantee the variant better transmissibility. Eris “is more advantaged from a transmission point of view and it is also from the point of view of immune escape”, explains Mircea Sofonea. Thanks to these mutations, it is therefore more resistant to antibodies as well as to vaccines. On the other hand, no data on its virulence has been communicated. “There is no signal on this subject,” he continues.
“The context is favorable to the epidemic recovery”