Delta + Omikeron = Delta Kerong? The researchers said a mixed strain was found, and 25 people have been infected

Wave after wave of unevenness, while Delta is still raging and Omikeron is spreading rapidly, a new strain of the new coronavirus has emerged!

Recently, researchers at the University of Cyprus are suspected of discovering a recombinant NEW CORONAVIRUS strain of Delta and Omi kerong in the local area, which was named "Deltacron" by the researchers.

Researchers have discovered the "Delta Croon" strain

The Department of Delta and Aumechjong reorganized

According to science and technology daily, Israel's "Jerusalem Post" quoted Cyprus media reports on the 9th, and researchers at the University of Cyprus are suspected of finding a recombinant new crown strain of Delta and Omicron in the local area, which is genetically closer to the Delta strain, but has a large number of unique variants of the Olmikron strain. For this reason, the strain was named "Deltacron" by the researchers.

A team led by RayondyWorth, director of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology at the University of Cyprus, a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee on COVID-19 of the President of the Republic of Cyprus and director of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology at the University of Cyprus, has been tracking the mutation of the new coronavirus in the country, and after sequencing 1377 samples, the team found that 25 people were infected with the new strain, and although their genetic sequence was close to that of the Delta strain, there were 10 unique variants of the Omiljung strain. At the same time, as many as 14 of the 25 infected people were hospitalized.

Cos Reggies said: "There are currently co-infections with the Ami kerong and Delta strains, and we have found a variant of the recombination of the two. "The analysis shows that this variant is more common in inpatients than in hospitalized patients." The team has uploaded the strain genome to the GISAID international database and will continue to see if the variant is more pathogenic or contagious, or whether it becomes endemic.

However, the discovery of the strain has raised some controversy in addition to widespread concern. Thomas Peacock, a postdoctoral researcher in infectious diseases at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom, said in a "Tweet" that there are some indications that the so-called "DeltaKron" may be the result of contaminated gene sequencing.

Studies have shown that recombination is very common in coronaviruses and has played an important role in the evolution of the coronavirus. In July 2020, researchers at Duke University, Los Alamos National Laboratory and other institutions in the United States published an article in the journal Nature that the new crown virus is likely to gain the ability to infect the human body through recombination; in August 2021, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States published a preprint paper saying that recombination has greatly accelerated the emergence of new variants of the new coronavirus.

In conclusion, it is important to monitor the genome of the new crown virus for evidence of recombination, both to gain insight into the virus and to provide early warning when the recombination of "super strains" emerges.

France discovers a new strain of "IHU"

Expert: New variants don't mean more dangerous

According to CCTV News, just a few days ago, on January 5, local time, according to a number of French media reports, in December last year, the French Marseille Mediterranean Infectious Disease Medical and Teaching Research Institute (IHU) said that a new variant of the new coronavirus was found, the strain number is B.1.640.2, also known as the "IHU" strain. The strain contained 46 mutation points and 37 deletions.

The strain was first identified in a patient returning to France from the Congo. So far, the Mediterranean Institute of Infectious Diseases Medical and Teaching Research in Marseille has found a total of 12 cases of infection with this strain. Due to the small size of the sample, it is currently difficult to assess its infectivity and risk. The World Health Organization has listed the strain as a NEW CORONAVIRUS variant under observation.

According to reports, the team of the Mediterranean Institute of Infectious Diseases in Marseille reportedly first reported on December 29 last year in a preprint uploaded to the MedRxiv platform. The team said the IHU strain carried 46 mutation points and 37 deletions, resulting in 30 amino acid replacements and 12 deletions.

By comparison, the Omiljung strain, which is ravaging countries around the world, has 37 mutation points. Mutation points for the IHU strain include two mutations that have been identified in Omikeron – N501Y and E484K. In addition, there are 9 deletions in viral spike proteins, and most of the COVID-19 vaccines currently available globally are against the virus's spike protein to establish a defense mechanism, and changes in spike proteins may affect the virus's ability to infect human cells.

The first person to be infected with the IHU strain was reportedly a man living in southeastern France who had previously been vaccinated against COVID-19. Two days after returning home from a trip to Africa in mid-November 2021, he began to experience mild respiratory symptoms. The next day, the man underwent a COVID-19 test and a nasopharyngeal sample was positive. The researchers said the tests showed an "atypical" combination of spike-like genomic mutations that did not match the pattern of Delta, the dominant strain of the time.

After careful study, in early December last year, the researchers confirmed that this was a new mutant strain, isolating B.1.640.2 from the evolutionary branch B.1.640. Since then, the strain has spread on a small scale in the same area, with at least 11 people testing positive for the B.1.640.2 variant.

B.1.640 was discovered in September 2021 with an unprecedented mutation in its spike protein and was subsequently included in the surveillance of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), but has not been elevated to a higher level of concern.

However, the researchers say it's unclear whether this B.1.640.2 variant will cause as much trouble as the Delta and Omilon variants. As we all know, the new crown virus has been constantly mutating, and many new variants have emerged in the past two years, but only a very small number of new strains have dominated.

Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding tweeted that new variants keep popping up, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be more dangerous. As far as the timeline is concerned, the IHU variant appears almost the same time as the Omilon, and may even predate the Omilon, so there is no need to worry too much.

The researchers also said in the paper that in terms of infection and vaccine protection, "it is too early to guess how different the variant will exhibit infectiousness and immune escape." But at the same time, it is pointed out that the emergence of this variant is the latest example of the unpredictable mutation and cross-border spread of the new crown virus. As the virus continues to spread and multiply, it will continue to mutate, and new mutated strains will continue to appear.

Edited | Duan Lian Wang Jiaqi

Proofreading | He Xiaotao

Daily economic news is synthesized from Science and Technology Daily, CCTV News, Per Jing Network, etc

The Delta strain is still in the global pandemic, and the Olmikron strain is adding fuel to the fire,