Mu Variant of Covid-19

Recently, Finland has reported the very first case of the ‘Mu’ variant of the coronavirus.

The Mu variant of Covid-19, officially termed as B.1.621, has been designated as a ‘Variant of Interest’ (VOI) by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as it has some mutations that “need to be studied for their potential impact on the body’s immune response.

It was first detected in Colombia in January 2021. It is named after the twelfth letter of the Greek alphabet. C.1.2 is a sub-lineage of the C.1 variant described in South Africa but did not spread globally.

About

It has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape. It has several substitutions affecting the Spike Protein and amino acid changes. Mu carries key mutations, including E484K, N501Y, and D614G, that have been linked with increased transmissibility and reduced immune protection. These mutations are known to help the virus escape the body’s immune defences and increase transmissibility.

Efficacy of Vaccines on Mu Variant

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is able to neutralise the Mu variant, but its effectiveness is less compared to other variants. A very small lab study, and more extensive research is needed.

The global prevalence of the Mu variant has declined and is currently below 0.1 per cent, the prevalence in Colombia (39 per cent) and Ecuador (13 per cent) has consistently increased.

Variant of Interest

A variant is placed in the VOI list if it is seen to have certain “genetic changes that are predicted or known to affect virus characteristics such as transmissibility, disease severity, immune escape, diagnostic or therapeutic escape. To be added to the VOI list, a variant must also be “identified to cause significant community transmission or multiple Covid-19 clusters in multiple countries”, and suggest “an emerging risk to global public health”.

Variant Of Concern

A VOI can become a VOC if it is demonstrated to be associated with an increase in transmissibility or virulence, or with a “decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics”.

Mutation, Variant and Strain

When a virus replicates it doesn’t always manage to produce an exact copy of itself. This means that, over time, the virus may start to differ slightly in terms of its genetic sequence. Any changes to the viral genetic sequence during this process is known as a Mutation 

Viruses with new mutations are sometimes called Variants. Variants can differ by one or multiple mutations. When a new variant has different functional properties to the original virus and becomes established in a population, it is sometimes referred to as a New Strain of the virus. All strains are variants, but not all variants are strains.

Source: HT