WHO designates Mu as a 'variant of interest'

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Even as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the world for the 21st consecutive month, a coronavirus variant known as Mu or B.1.621 has been designated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a 'variant of interest' with cases continuing to emerge in more than 39 countries. It is the fifth variant of interest currently being monitored by the WHO and yet another indication of the fact that the outbreak, which began in December 2019 in China's Wuhan City and changed life across the world like never before, remains unpredictable. The Mu variant, which has joined the ranks of the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants of the virus, was first detected in Colombia in January 2021, where cases continue to rise. Mu has since been identified in over three dozen countries, according to the WHO, among them the US, South Korea, Japan, Ecuador, Canada and parts of Europe.
About 2,000 Mu cases have been identified in the US, so far, according to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), the largest database of novel coronavirus genome sequences in the world. Most cases have been recorded in California, Florida, Texas and New York among others. However, Mu is not an“immediate threat right now” within the US, top infectious-disease expert Anthony S Fauci told a press briefing last Thursday. He said that while the government was“keeping a very close eye on it,” the variant was“not at all even close to being dominant” as the Delta variant remains the cause of over 99% of cases in the country.
It's unclear how much protection the vaccines offer against the new variant.“The Mu variant has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape,” the WHO said in a statement last Tuesday, raising concerns that it may be more resistant to coronavirus vaccines than other variants.“But this needs to be confirmed by further studies,” it added. Fauci said that while laboratory data had shown that the Mu variant can evade certain antibodies — among them those induced by vaccine shots — there is currently a lack of clinical data and other research involving people, showing this. He underscored that in general, vaccines remain effective and the best protection against the coronavirus.
Vaccine maker Pfizer told The Washington Post that it was studying the Mu variant and expected to share data soon with a peer-reviewed journal. Representatives from other coronavirus vaccine makers Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are yet to comment. Paúl Cárdenas, a professor of infectious diseases and genomics at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, who has studied Mu is of the view that current evidence showed that it was likely“more transmissible” than the original coronavirus strain. Mu has“been able to outcompete Gamma and Alpha in most parts of Ecuador and Colombia, but there was no sign yet that people should be more worried,” Cárdenas added.
Mu is yet to be moved up to the WHO's list of“variants of concern”. Most viruses change over time, and although some mutations have little to no impact on the virus's properties, others can change how it spreads, its severity and the effectiveness of vaccines or other medicines. For now, the WHO says more studies are needed to understand the characteristics of the Mu variant — and that it will monitor how it may interact, in particular, with the more common Delta variant.

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