The WHO says it doesn't have to worry about the COVID-19 variant IHU

文/Zachary Snowdon Smith

Image source: Visual China

Synopsis:

The World Health Organization urges the public not to worry too early about the IHU variant, also known as B.1.640.2, a highly variable strain of coronavirus that was first discovered in France on Nov. 4 and whose properties remain unknown to researchers.

Key facts:

The IHU variant — named after the Mediterranean Institute of Infection in Marseille, France, to help discover it — contains 46 mutations, similar to the highly mutated Omiljung variant.

According to a paper published in medRxiv on Dec. 29 last year, the IHU variant was first identified in a patient who recently returned from Cameroon reported in the south of France before the paper was peer-reviewed.

According to the paper, while the IHU variant suggests that the emergence and cross-border spread of the coronavirus variant is unpredictable, it is too early to guess how this variant will spread or what symptoms it will cause. The author of the paper is Didier Raoult, founder of the Mediterranean Institute of Infection in Marseille, France, and other researchers, who are sometimes controversial.

WHO's covid-19 event chief Abdi Mahmud said on Tuesday that WHO has been monitoring the IHU variant since last November but has found little evidence of transmission in more than 20 cases, although the variant "has many chances of being infected".

Key Background:

Highly variable CORONAVIRUS variants can behave unexpectedly. Mutations in the Omiljung variant helped it become more contagious and insulated it from most antibody treatments, as the viral structures targeted by these treatments have changed shape. Researchers at Northeastern University say that while some early variants, such as the Delta variant, can cause more severe disease, the virus often mutates and becomes more contagious, but less lethal. Some studies suggest that the Omikejong variant may have followed this pattern, representing a more contagious strain that is less likely to take patients to hospital.

Relevant:

Raoult's maverick approach has sparked controversy on several occasions. In 2020, Raoult promoted the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a 100% effective treatment for COVID-19, despite the lack of evidence to support this claim. In response, EU politician Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit advised Raoult to stop branding himself as a genius and instead "shut up and be a doctor." Former U.S. President Donald Trump later claimed that chloroquine oxyhydride was a miracle cure, much to the dismay of U.S. doctors, who warned the public that the drug could have side effects on the mind and heart.

Translated by Stephen