The mysterious dance of Covid-19: The ERIS Variant: The Science Behind the Unknown

Dr. Soner Yeşilbaş

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Covid-19 virus has undergone many changes and appeared with different variants. The world has once again realized that the Covid-19 pandemic is full of surprises. Now, the ERIS variant is on the agenda.

However, this variant, as its name suggests, is not an ordinary change. I would like to share with you some interesting details that many of us have not heard.

In this article, I will examine the extraordinary dangers of ERIS from the perspective of a physician specializing in biochemistry.

First, let's start by stating where the name of the ERIS variant comes from.

Eris is the goddess of chaos, strife, and oblivion in Greek mythology. The fact that the variant takes its name from this mythological character may symbolize the "chaos" created by the virus's unpredictability as it evolves, its "oblivion" by insidiously hiding from immunity to cause infection, and its "strife" that challenges our vaccines and immunity.

The most surprising finding I encountered in my research is ERIS's "mastery" in not showing symptoms.

New findings reveal that this variant shows fewer symptoms in infected individuals, and sometimes even no symptoms at all.

The increasing number of asymptomatic patients makes diagnosis difficult. There are findings suggesting that traditional RT-PCR tests struggle to detect this variant. In other words, PCR test results show an increase in "false negatives," as if the patient does not have the virus. This indicates that we need to reconsider the methods we use for diagnosis.

We can say that Eris has a "silent attacker" approach. This is one of the reasons why variants that tend to spread without showing symptoms are emerging.

Another interesting observation is that the Eris variant tends to spread more through contact rather than through the respiratory tract.

The latest observations from the scientific community suggest that Eris may use a different replication mechanism than other variants. It is as if the virus is transitioning to the next stage of evolution. This could cause the variant to multiply faster in infected cells. This may also lead to symptoms appearing more quickly or, conversely, fewer symptoms being shown.

According to laboratory results, the protein structure of this variant is more complex compared to previous variants. This creates uncertainty about how it will affect the efficacy of vaccines. However, what is important here is that this uncertainty does not mean that vaccines will be completely ineffective.

These unique changes in the virus's genetic material can lead to the virus binding to cells more easily or with more difficulty. As a reflection of this, interestingly, individuals who showed mild symptoms in the first waves of the pandemic may experience severe symptoms with the current Eris variant. Until the scientific community provides an explanation, the most logical perspective is that the ACE-2 cell entry gate of the virus may have protein structural differences (variations) that change from person to person.

Because as the virus changes its spike protein, its binding properties also change. This means it could bind more strongly in individuals to whom it previously bound weakly, leading to severe infection symptoms.

Conversely, it is also possible that people who have previously had severe infections may be less affected by the Eris variant. Therefore, it is important for everyone to take protective measures seriously.

News Source: 12punto