These variants of the coronavirus were feared. Nobody remembers them today. One didn’t even exist

New variants of the coronavirus every now and then cause a media stir. Many people fear that they will turn out to be more dangerous. Some can dominate the environment, but only five have made the ‘anxiety-inducing variants’ list so far. Some of them have passed away or they have not been able to spread to the world.

1. Scientists have discovered another mutation of the coronavirus. The IHU was first detected in Marseille, France. Again, there were suggestions that it would prove dangerous
2. So far, the WHO has identified a total of 10 strains of the coronavirus. Some of them, such as Beta and Gamma, did not manage to spread in Europe
3. New variants were also created by … politicians. The Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, said, inter alia, about the non-existent “Czech variant”
4. You can find more similar stories on the TvoiLokony home page

A few days ago, the world media circulated the news that electrified readers, listeners and viewers. In December, French scientists in Marseille recognized a new variant of the coronavirus. IHU, as it is called, is characterized by 46 mutations, but – as experts emphasize – “there is little evidence that it supersedes the currently dominant variant of Omikron, which accounts for over 60 percent. cases in France ».

The catastrophic mood was toned down in an interview with Medonet by prof. Tomasz Dzieciatkowski from the Medical University of Warsaw. – New variants of the coronavirus should not be of interest to anyone other than virologists and epidemiologists. They are treated in the same way, diagnosed in the same way, vaccinated in the same way. For the clinician who will treat such a patient, it does not matter whether the patient has Delta, Omikron, or will have a potential Omega variant in the future. The procedure is the same – emphasized the virologist.

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Alpha variant – author of the third wave

Today, few people remember how everyone was afraid in January 2021 British variant of the coronavirus (later renamed variant Alpha). For some time it was the most dangerous variant. Together with 20 sub-options, he was responsible, inter alia, for causing the third wave of the pandemic.

Although classified as “dangerous” by WHO, it later gave way to Delta.

Beta and Gamma – these varieties have not dominated Poland

Two more varieties, Beta and Gamma, appeared in 2020 in southern Africa and Brazil, respectively. They have contributed to many deaths. For example, according to the data of Johns Hopkins University, in South Africa, Beta was responsible for the second wave of infections, which led to at least 30 thousand. confirmed deaths.

It was feared that Beta would be able to bypass immunity more effectively.

Despite fears, Beta and Gamma did not manage to spread in Europe and Poland. There have been fewer than a hundred cases of Beta in the country and not a single case of Gamma.

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The media is often excited about the number of changes and mutations in viruses, which would simply translate into its strength. However, this is not the case, it is confirmed by the most modified version of the coronavirus – the so-called a strain from Tanzaniawhich contained 10 times more changes than other variants known to date. The change got loud when Tanzania decided to completely open up the economy and tourism. People started traveling to Zanzibar. However, this strain was not successful and disappeared relatively quickly.

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Czech variant? I don’t know

The media has repeatedly reported on another potentially dangerous and vaccine-resistant SARS-CoV-2 mutations. Sometimes, however, the public was misled by politicians. It was so, incl. in the case of the Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, who at the beginning of January last year, informed that several cases were reported in Poland «Czech variant» COVID-19. The problem is that there has never been such a variety officially. The Czech embassy in Warsaw intervened in the case.

The head of the Department of Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases of the National Institute of Health confirmed that “there is no information that there is such a thing as a” Czech mutation of “coronavirus”, the embassy said in a statement.

How and why do viruses mutate?

A virus’s DNA usually mutates when it copies itself in an infected organism. Viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, transform for one purpose only – to infect as many individuals as possible as quickly as possible and become more contagious but less lethal. The virus has nothing to do with the dead host. We write more about the mutating coronavirus here.

The WHO is assessing the risk of new variants taking into account not only contagiousness, but also the ability to evade immunity and the severity of the course.

Will the currently popular Delta and Omikron variants work together? will Delta also “disappear”? It’s still unknown. Scientists are investigating how the disease of Omicron will translate into immunity before Delta. For example, in the case of the influenza virus, there are different strains around the world.

Also read:

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2. How long do vaccines protect against COVID-19? A new study checks several connections
3. Two new symptoms of Omicron. More people report them to doctors
4. These are the first symptoms of Omikron infection [LIST]
5. Who is the most resistant to the Omikron variant?

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