Amid Omicron scare, scientists in France have identified a new strain of coronavirus with more mutations and more infectious than the Omicron variant. Known as ‘IHU’, the B.1.640.2 variant has been reported by researchers at institute IHU Mediterranee Infection, and has been linked to travel to African country Cameroon. At least 12 cases of the new variant have been reported near Marseilles, contains 46 mutations, making it more resistant to vaccines and infectious.
‘The mutation set and phylogenetic position of the genomes obtained here indicate based on our previous definition a new variant we named IHU’, the authors stated. Posted on the preprint repository MedRxiv on December 29, the study revealed that IHU has 46 mutations and 37 deletions resulting in 30 amino acid substitutions and 12 deletions. Tests show the strain carries the N501Y mutation- first seen on the Alpha variant- that experts believe can make it more transmissible. According to the scientists, it also carries the E484K mutation, which could mean that the IHU variant will be more resistant to vaccines.
Un nouveau variant COVID-19 à été détecté à l'IHU Méditerranée Infection issu de patients de Forcalquier. Il a été baptisé variant IHU et déposé sur GISAID sous le nom de B.1.640.2. pic.twitter.com/Rh3klIxy0w
— IHU Méditerranée Infection (@IHU_Marseille) December 9, 2021
According to the researchers, the index (first) case was an adult diagnosed positive by RTPCR performed in a laboratory on a nasopharyngeal sample collected in mid-November last year. The B.1.640.2 has not been identified in other countries so far or labelled a variant under investigation by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Also read: Omicron scare: Kerala Govt imposes tight restrictions
Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding posted a long Twitter thread in which he said that new variants keep emerging but it does not necessarily mean they will be more dangerous. ‘What makes a variant more well-known and dangerous is its ability to multiply because of the number of mutations it has in relation to the original virus’, Feigl-Ding said in a tweet. ‘This is when it becomes a ‘variant of concern’ – like Omicron, which is more contagious and more past immunity evasive. It remains to be seen in which category this new variant will fall’, he added.
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