FRANCE DISCOVERS A NOVEL COVID STRAIN IHU, WITH 12 PEOPLE INFECTED

  • 04/01/2022

As the globe grapples with the highly evolved Omicron variety of SARS-CoV-2, scientists in Southern France have discovered a new strain of the Covid-19 producing virus.
The B.1.640.2 variation, known as 'IHU,' has been reported in at least 12 instances by researchers at the institute IHU Mediterranee Infection, and has been connected to travel to the African country Cameroon.

However, the researchers cautioned that it is too early to speculate on how this variation may behave in terms of infection and vaccine protection.

The unpublished study, which was published on the preprint repository MedRxiv on December 29, indicated that IHU has 46 mutations and 37 deletions, resulting in 30 amino acid changes and 12 deletions. 

Amino acids are chemicals that join together to produce proteins, which are the building blocks of life. The spike protein contains fourteen amino acid changes, including N501Y and E484K, and nine deletions. The majority of existing vaccines are directed at the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which the virus utilises to enter and infect cells.
Previously, N501Y and E484K mutations were discovered in Beta, Gamma, Theta, and Omicron variations.

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