The Covid-19 is constantly mutating. WHO is concerned about a new variant of the coronavirus: the Mu variant. He could resist vaccines. We take stock.
The Mu variant of Covid-19 has been classified by the World Health Organization as a variant to be monitored in September 2021 as part of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. It joins the long list of mutations made by the virus, and the category of mutations that concern health authorities. Spotted in Latin America, the Mu variant is now spreading around the world. “Although the global prevalence of the Mu variant among sequenced cases has decreased and is currently less than 0.1%, its prevalence in Colombia (39%) and Ecuador (13%) has steadily increased”, explained the WHO. It could therefore redistribute the stakes in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. This is what Professor Gilbert Deray, from the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital said, on Wednesday 1 September on RMC : “As long as the epidemic is not controlled, we will not be safe”.
Why this particular concern, given the number of mutations that Sars-CoV-2 has already experienced?
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- Because this Mu variant presents mutations which could indicate a risk of immune escape, that is, resistance to vaccines. This was particularly the case with the Delta variant. However, further studies are needed to better understand its characteristics.
- Like some other variants, it could increase transmissibility. That is, a person infected with this variant could infect more people than with the classic strain of the coronavirus.
- It would be more present in Île-de-France and Occitanie (27 and 17 samples to date). The Colombian variant was reportedly detected for the first time in Hauts-de-France, near Berck.