A new variant of covid has been identified a few weeks ago by French researchers, derived from another whose first cases had been detected in the Republic of Congo last September.
The Institute University Hospital of Marseille, at the origin of this discovery, he communicated on December 9 on his Twitter account that he had baptized this variant with his own initials, IHU.
Its researchers published at the end of last month a pre-study, still pending validation by their peers, on this “IHU variant” call B.1.640.2 Of which still little is known considering the limited number of registered cases.
The study estimates that the new variant contains 46 mutations and 37 deletions – A type of genetic mutation in which genetic material is lost, from a single pair of DNA nucleotides to an entire chromosome fragment. For now It is not detailed what is the transmissibility of the new variant and if it is more lethal or contagious.
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According to this center specialized in infectious diseases, created and directed by the controversial physician Didier Raoult, the first of those cases The scientists found them in the town of Forcalquier, in the department of Alpes de Haute Provence.
In fact, we have several cases of this new variant in the geographical area of Marseille. We call it the IHU variant. Two newly identified genomes have just been shipped.
Professor Philippe Colson, who heads the unit that discovered the strain.
There is evidence of a dozen in the Marseille region that are associated with trips to Cameroon.
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Since the variant contains 46 mutations, that is to say still more than omicron, is one of the two derivatives of B.1.640 that had been located at the end of September in the Republic of Congo.
“The new variant B.1.640.2 is a sublineage of B.1.640 that had already been detected throughout 2021 in April in France, in August in Indonesia, some detections in September in Congo and others in October also in France. It never had a wide expansion or dispersion. And the reason we are talking about this ‘new variant’ now is because of a pre-printed study, not yet peer-reviewed, that has been published this week, led by French researcher Didier Raoult who is an eminent virologist who has achieved fame. worldwide for having been a staunch defender of hydroxychloroquine and published works on the subject, which later had to be withdrawn and from which he had to retract due to the methodologies and data analysis ”, he explained to Infobae the doctor Humberto Debat, virologist and researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology in Córdoba and member of the PAIS consortium for SARS-CoV-2 genomics in Argentina.
A peculiar element of the “IHU variant is that one of its mutations is associated with a possible increase of virus transmission. (I)
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