XBB.1.5's Life Story

A short story on XBB.1.5 & its rise to dominance

This story begins when XBB's parents, BJ.1 and BM.1.1.1, met on a warm summer night in the summer of 2022, likely, somewhere in or around India. In no time at all, they had a baby. The baby is named XBB. XBB grew up with a natural ability to excel at dodging, attacking, and defeating the defensesIn no time at all, they had a baby. That baby is named XBB. XBB grew up with a natural ability to be the best at dodging, attacking, and defeating the defenses of its hosts, but XBB had a problem. It can’t get into position to do any of that without being able to grab onto its potential host and hang on with an iron grip. It was the most immune escape/suppressive variant to date, but it was struggling to survive against the competition, like BQ.1.1, because its grip wasn't strong enough.

XBB moved around the world, eventually settling with a host in or near New York State. XBB started some vigorous training to build its grip strength. The hard work paid off. It developed some new muscles (mutations) that enhanced its gripping strength. XBB's new and improved self became known as XBB.1.5.

XBB.1.5 can now easily latch on and infect people, which means it will take fewer fingers (viral particles) to latch on with its newfound gripping strength, which is more powerful than its competitors. (Higher dose exposures will likely have a larger impact on the severity and duration of symptoms.)

Once XBB.1.5 gets a solid grip, it moves quickly to disarm its hosts' defenses by evading and attacking. It does this so well that the hosts may have fewer initial symptoms. Instead of trying to kill its host, it decides to keep them alive and moves in. Sometimes it doesn't find a habitable environment and moves on, leaving the door open as it leaves. If it stays, XBB.1.5 can then live for a longer time in one person outside of the defenses of the immune system, in viral reservoirs. We have discovered quite a few of these viral reservoirs. The pancreas, the tonsils, the kidneys, the brain, the testicles, and the GI tract, to name some of them. This allows it to hang out while letting its host think things are back to normal for a little while.

What benefit does XBB.1.5 get from creating a happy home?

It is waiting for its magical moment, to meet another variant, of course. The new happy couple can then have a baby of their own. Being a host to this truly awful tenant can cause serious, complicated, and costly problems for someone's health in the short and long term. COVID can lead to any number of over 200 symptoms across ten organ systems that last for weeks, months, or years. Some of these problems can become disabling.

Because XBB.1.5 has weakened the immune system to make itself at home, the door is open to other viruses, bacteria, and fungi until the immune system recovers. The immune system can recover after XBB.1.5 has carved out its spots, but that can take weeks to 8 months or longer. If another pathogen infects someone during this period, they may have more severe symptoms than they otherwise would have. If another variant infects this host, the immune system takes another blow, and if the stars are aligned, XBB.1.5 may get lucky and meet its mate. We don't want XBB.1.5 to get lucky. We don't want to give it a home in ourselves or anyone else, so let's take proactive steps to limit its chances of success every step of the way.

Remember that anyone can be infected by this variant. Prior immunity built up from vaccines and/or prior infections will not prevent infection, nor will it provide any guarantee of preventing XBB.1.5 from making a home of the host. Hopefully, the prior exposure will help by having an army of CD8 T-cells that are somewhat trained in how to take out this variant leading to a quicker resolution of symptoms and prevent the virus from causing as much damage.

What can we do to increase our odds against this super variant?