The variant, referred to as IHU for the research hospital it was discovered in, “probably” originated in Cameroon, scientists said last week. Officials said it was identified in 12 patients in the Southern Alps around the same time the highly transmissible Omicron variant was surging in South Africa.
Genome sequencing was carried out at the university hospital institute Méditerranée Infection, and revealed some mutations similar to those seen in other variants including Omicron. Analysis of the variant revealed 46 mutations along with 37 deletions to its genome.
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The variant “has been on our radar,” Abdi Mahamud, a WHO incident manager on COVID, stated at a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. “That virus had a lot of chances to pick it up.”
The news came as France sees its average daily caseload more than double in a week, with a record 271,686 COVID-19 cases recorded there Tuesday.
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IHU’s patient zero had just returned from Africa when scientists at IHU Méditerranée Infection in Marseilles discovered he was infected with an atypical mutation of the virus. The vaccinated man “developed mild respiratory symptoms the day before diagnosis,” researchers wrote in their not-yet-peer-reviewed article published in medRxiv.
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“It is too early to speculate on virological, epidemiological or clinical features of this IHU variant based on these 12 cases,” they stated on Dec. 29. The WHO had not yet declared the new mutations a “variant of interest” or a “variant of concern,” according to its website.
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IHU Director Didier Raoult previously said the hospital’s infectious disease experts found seven Coronavirus variants over the summer. Some scientists disputed the claims because the microbiologist had endorsed hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 cure. After an emergency use authorization in the first months of the pandemic, the FDA ruled there was no evidence that the drug was effective, and asserted its risks outweigh any potential benefits.
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Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, took to Twitter on Monday to post that the ‘IHU’ variant is "definitely not one worth worrying about too much at the moment," Newsweek reported.
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Countries across the globe are grappling with new Coronavirus infections. Israel recorded its highest-ever number of new infections on Tuesday -- driven by the ultra-contagious Omicron variant -- despite restrictions on travel and required quarantines.
The record of 11,978 cases diagnosed on Tuesday marks the most infections reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic.
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