As the highly transmissible Omicron variant has displaced Delta as the coronavirus' prevalent strain, another new variant has generated considerable attention, but existing data indicate it is not a cause for alarm.
According to Forbes magazine, the variant has been named the "IHU variant" by scientists at the Méditerranée Infection University Hospital Institute (IHU) in Marseilles, who found it for the first time in France in November.
IHU, or the B.1.640.2 variant, has infected 12 persons in southeastern France thus far. The first instance was associated with a travel history to Cameroon, western Africa, according to the investigators in a research published on medRxiv.
However, specialists were quick to point out that the discovery of a novel strain did not necessarily indicate IHU would prove as contagious as previous strains, notably Omicron.
The World Health Organization said the new variant has not become a significant threat. It "has been on our radar," Abdi Mahamud, a WHO pandemic incident manager, said Tuesday during a news briefing in Geneva.
Notably, the IHU contains 46 mutations, or changes that occur naturally as a virus multiplies and transforms. With billions of people worldwide remaining unvaccinated, the coronavirus has spread rather easily, mutating as it does so.
Meanwhile, next-generation sequencing was used to obtain the genomes. The researchers asserted that the individual identified as having the IHU strain was fully immunized. After returning from a three-day vacation to Cameroon, the individual tested positive for COVID-19.
Epidemiologists have advocated for increased genomic surveillance to detect the emergence of novel variants. To avoid this, public health experts say, rich countries such as the United States must make the global immunization campaign a priority.
While IHU was identified around the same time as Omicron, the B.1.640.2 has yet to be detected outside of France's southern Alps, TIME magazine disclosed.
Next-generation sequencing was used to obtain the genomes. The researchers asserted that the individual identified as having the IHU variant was fully immunized.
After returning from a three-day vacation to Cameroon, the individual tested positive for COVID-19.
Health experts predict that as COVID-19 infections continue to rise, new strains will emerge, but none will acquire momentum.
Public health officials are already scrambling to modify masking and immunization requirements to meet fast changing conditions, and a new variant could have offered yet another problem.
The WHO monitors several variants and designates them "variants of concern" when they appear to represent a major danger.
IHU is still being investigated.
