“Scientists are sounding the alarm with a new variant emerging in southern France,” thunders Express.co.uk. It is a mutation B.1.640.2, called IHU, detected near Marseille. It is already said that the IHU can be more “severe” than the Omikron. This is “another example of the unpredictability of the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants”, we read in a yet unverified article reprinted on medRxiv.
- The new variant of the coronavirus was diagnosed in December in patients from the city of Forcalquier, located about 100 km from Marseille
- So far, 12 cases of IHU infection have been detected near Marseille. The first was related to a trip to Cameroon
- Scientists report the identification of 46 mutations and 37 deletions in the IHU variant. In the case of Omikron, there were talk of about 50 changes
- Dr. Aneta Afelt recalls that new variants of the coronavirus appear continuously and of course not all of them are more contagious
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage.
IHU mutation – why is it worrying?
We did not have time to get to know the Omikron super-variant and the threats that come with it, and the coronavirus has already presented us with a new challenge – mutation B.1.640.2, called the IHU. It was discovered near Marseille (southern France) in December. The new variant was identified by experts from the Institute of Infectious Diseases of the University Hospital of Marseille (IHU, hence the current name of the variant). So far, it has been confirmed in 12 people. The first case was linked to a trip to Cameroon, suggesting the variant may have originated in an African country.
- See also: Who is patient zero infected with IHU? He was vaccinated
In the aforementioned peer-reviewed article reprinted in medRxiv, researchers reported that 46 mutations and 37 deletions (changes in the amount or structure of genetic material) were identified. In the case of Omikron, there were talk of about 50 changes.
“These data are another example of the unpredictability of the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants” – the authors believe, reminding that the work has not yet been reviewed and therefore should not be used in clinical practice.
The appearance of a new mutation, of course, raises questions about how quickly it will spread, how infectious it will be, and how effective the current immunity will be – the post-infection one and the post-vaccination one. We do not know all of this at the moment.
What we need to keep in mind is that new variants of the coronavirus appear continuously. – This is completely normal – emphasized Dr. Aneta Afelt from the COVID-19 team at the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences in a recent interview for MedTvoiLokony. – Of course, not all of them are problematic for us, not all of them are more contagious. The question is, how many variants and their properties we do not know, because we have not come across them yet? There is a high probability that other variants appear in parallel somewhere in the world, and it is possible that one of them will be comparable to the Omicron’s success, or even more. It is all a matter of probability and chance at the same time, Dr Afelt notes.
What role will the lunatic IHU play in the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, and if at all? Time will show it. At the moment, experts believe that «there is little evidence that it is replacing the currently dominant variant of Omikron, which accounts for over 60% of the total. cases in France ».
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