France gets IHU, a new Covid variant: What we know so far
While Omicron is on a rampage across the world, we have another Covid variant in France. Of the B.1.640 lineage, this new Covid variant has been temporarily named IHU. IHU has been identified in southern France. It is too early for scientists to share every detail about this variant; whether it is a variant of concern, whether it is anything like the earlier variants, and so on.
Here are 5 points on what we know so far about IHU:
IHU, NEW COVID VARIANT: 5 POINTS TO NOTE
1. FIRST IDENTIFIED IN NOVEMBER 2021
The IHU variant was first identified in November 2021, in France, around the same time when Omicron was detected. During that time, some of the patients were hospitalised due to illness.
It was identified at the IHU Mediterranee Infection, which is an organisation in France that studies infectious diseases and aims to fight them.
On December 9, 2021, IHU Mediterranee Infection posted a tweet about IHU, “A new Covid-19 variant has been detected at the IHU Méditerranée Infection from patients of Forcalquier. It was named the IHU variant and deposited on GISAID under the name B.1.640.2.”
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
2. 12 CASES SO FAR
12 cases have been detected so far near Marseilles, France. The first patient is reported to have travelled to Cameroon in Africa.
The first person tested positive in mid-November 2021. The person was vaccinated and experienced mild respiratory symptoms a few days before the diagnosis.
3. 46 MUTATIONS
A study posted on MedRxiv on December 29, 2021, revealed that IHU has 46 mutations. The study is yet to be peer-reviewed.
“Too early to speculate on virological, epidemiological or clinical features of this IHU variant based on these 12 cases,” the study further mentioned.
4. NEED NOT WORRY, SAYS WHO
As per a recent Bloomberg report, World Health Organization has said that the France variant is not much of a threat till now.
Abdi Mahamud, an incident manager at WHO said in a press briefing, “This variant has been on our radar. That virus had a lot of chances to pick up.” But it is not a 'variant of concern' yet.
5. HAS NOT BEEN REPORTED BY OTHER COUNTRIES
Thankfully the IHU variant is limited to only France till now. No cases of IHU have been reported in other parts of the world.
A handful of Covid cases in China in 2019 have affected the whole world today and we are in the middle of a pandemic. As the world battles Omicron right now, a new variant in any country is bad news. IHU, so far, is limited to France.