The IHU variation reported from France was detected before Omicron was discovered, and scientists believe it’s nothing to be concerned about. The limited number of cases from the variety, despite its early diagnosis, might be an indication that it isn’t as dangerous as it appears, according to virologists.
The B.1.640.2 variety, often known as ‘IHU,’ was discovered by researchers at the IHU Mediterranee Infection Institute. In Southern France, at least 12 people have been identified with the rare SAR-CoV-2 mutation, and researchers are still trying to figure out how the likely new version behaves.
According to Dr. Thomas Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, the variation “had a decent chance to cause trouble but never really materialized,” according to the Daily Mail. On November 4, the strain was uploaded to the GISAID variant-tracking database, just days before Omicron was released to the public as a novel variety.
Since November, when the World Health Organization designated Omicron as a cause for worry, it has expanded across all continents, with a new wave of cases in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Europe, and South Africa. Only 12 instances of IHU have been recorded thus far. The WHO has stayed silent on the changes, despite its continued concerns about the Omicron variation of coronavirus, which is gradually displacing Delta as the most prevalent form of coronavirus.
Details regarding the “IHU” variation were revealed in a preprint on MedRxiv that has yet to be peer evaluated. IHU contains 46 mutations and 37 deletions, with 30 amino acid substitutions and 12 deletions as a consequence of these changes. Amino acids are the building blocks of life, and proteins are made up of amino acids. The spike protein has fourteen amino acid changes and nine deletions, including N501Y and E484K.
“We indeed have several cases of this new variant in the Marseille geographical area.” one of the preprint paper’s authors, Professor Philippe Colson, told the Daily Mail.
So yet, the B.1.640.2 has not been detected in other nations, nor has the World Health Organization designated it as a variety under research (WHO). The index (first) case, according to the researchers, was an adult who was identified positive by RTPCR on a nasopharyngeal sample obtained in mid-November last year.