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EG.5 (Eris) and BA.2.86 (Pirola) two new subvariants of SARS-CoV-2: a new face of old COVID-19

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Abstract

Background

The World Health Organization announced the end of the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) global health emergency on May 5, 2023. However, the reports from different countries indicate an elevation in the number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths through the last months. The subvariant XBB.1.5 (Kraken) was the cause of 49.1% of COVID-19 cases by the end of January 2023. Although, the subvariant EG.5 (Eris) has surpassed the XBB.1.5 recently. EG.5 is a close subvariant descending from XBB.1.9.2 subvariant of Omicron. EG.5.1 is a sublineage carrying two crucial spike mutations F456L and Q52H. Up to now, it is not well-established whether its infectivity, severity, and immune evasion have shown any change or not. Also, BA.2.86 another subvariant of Omicron descending from BA.2 bears over 30 mutations which could affect its infectivity and transmissibility.

Methods

Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Google were searched with six keywords up to 20 November 2023 and highly reliable research and reports were selected to refer to in this article.

Purpose

This brief review aims to overview the most reliable data about EG.5 and BA.2.86 based on scientific evidence.

Conclusion

Based on the currently available data these two new subvariants have similar features with currently circulating variants of Omicron and are less immune evasive than ancestral SARS-CoV-2.

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Data availablity

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Abbreviations

ACE2:

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2

COVID-19:

Coronavirus disease of 2019

RBD:

Receptor binding domain

SARS-CoV-2:

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

VUM:

Variant under monitoring

VOI:

Variant of interest

WHO:

World Health Organization

ICU:

Intensive Care Unit

NTD:

N-terminal domain

US:

United States

UK:

United Kingdom

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Funding

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Corona Molecular Diagnosis Reference Laboratory, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran

    Abdolreza Esmaeilzadeh

  2. Cancer Gene Therapy Research Center, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran

    Abdolreza Esmaeilzadeh

  3. Student Research Committee, Department of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran

    Fereshteh Ebrahimi

  4. Infectious Disease Department, Valiasr Hospital, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran

    Armin Jahani Maleki & Amir Siahmansouri

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  1. Abdolreza Esmaeilzadeh
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Contributions

FE, AJM, and AS contributed to data gathering, writing the manuscript, and designing figures. AE contributed to the hypothesis, correspondence, and revising of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Abdolreza Esmaeilzadeh.

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Esmaeilzadeh, A., Ebrahimi, F., Jahani Maleki, A. et al. EG.5 (Eris) and BA.2.86 (Pirola) two new subvariants of SARS-CoV-2: a new face of old COVID-19. Infection 52, 337–343 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-023-02146-0

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