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WHO has stressed its interest and the need to be under observation
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Almost half of infections in Colombia are caused by this mutation
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There are more and more variants of the coronavirus: beta, delta, lambda or la recent C.1.2; but now another has been identified that is gaining ground in Latin America and that concerns the health authorities.
It’s about the variant Mu -o B.1.621-, identified for the first time this January in Colombia but, although it is not as widespread as the delta, it already occupies almost 4 out of every 10 infections in the Colombian country.
Under surveillance
All viruses -including covid- mutate over time, but most of these alterations have little or no impact on the characteristics of the virus. But there are some that can directly affect the properties of the virus: propagation capacity and speed, the severity of disease o la vaccine efficacy o medicines.
Specifically, this variant has been listed as ‘of interest’ and is under the spotlight, since it presents mutations that could have more ability to escape the effect of vaccines -as also happens with the beta variant- as stated by the World Health Organization (WHO). Therefore, they have decided to catalog it to monitor it for its potential properties of immune escape.
Even so, it is not classified as a worrying variant, since in this category only those that suppose some kind of risk added: alfa (the British), beta (the South African), gamma (the Brazilian) and delta (India).
Presence and origin
The WHO has stated that “although the global prevalence of the Mu variant among sequenced cases has decreased and is currently below 0.1%, the prevalence in Colombia (39%) and Ecuador (13%) has steadily increased”. “The epidemiology of the Mu variant in South America, particularly with the co-circulation of the Delta variant, will be monitored for changes“, has explained.
Thus, the infectious disease epidemiologist and covid technical leader at the WHO, Maria Van Kerkhove, has explained the situation of the new Mu variant. “It contains mutations that need further study, needs to be under observation“, has affirmed.
Related news
➡️Data on Mu has been shread with @WHO Virus Evolution Working Group ????
➡️As of 29 Aug, 4.5k sequences of Mu have been uploaded to @GISAID from 39 countries
➡️ Circulation of Mu is ⬇️ globally & < 0.1% of currently shared sequences of Mu, but this needs careful observation— Maria Van Kerkhove (@mvankerkhove) August 31, 2021
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