A dozen or so cases of infections have now been confirmed in Marseille with the variant B.1.640.2, named after the Institute of Infectious Diseases of the University Hospital of Marseille (IHU Méditerranée Infection), where it was identified. Scientists from a French university suggest that it is almost as infectious as Omikron.
- This variant probably came to Europe from Africa as it was identified in a traveler returning from Cameroon - says Dr. Karolina Krupa-Kotara from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice.
- There is no official position on the IHU of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Variant B.1.640.2 was also not registered in the GISAID database, which enables the tracking of individual variants of the coronavirus - adds Karolina Krupa-Kotara, MD, PhD.
Returning from Cameroon vaccinated against SARS-Cov-2, patient zero three days after returning experienced mild respiratory symptoms. After the test was positive, further research revealed an unusual combination that did not match the sequence of the Delta or Omikron variants.
On the following days, the IHU was identified in samples from seven patients in the same area, including two adults and five children under the age of 15. - In the analyzed material, 46 mutations and 37 deletions were detected in the viral spike protein. Despite the fact that the variant seems to be almost as infectious as Omikron, the 12 cases of its infection so far are definitely not enough to draw any conclusions - says Dr. Karolina Krupa-Kotara, MD.
