He does not yet have a Greek letter attributed to name him that the so-called "Colombian" variant of Covid-19, called as such because discovered in Colombia last January, is already worrying the Belgian health authorities.
B.1.621.
- its scientific name - caused the death of seven people, all vaccinated, in a nursing home in Zaventem, Belgium.
Within two weeks, the variant reached twenty people, seven of whom died.
“The first infections were detected on July 16 in a care unit for residents with dementia,” explain our Belgian colleagues from the RTBF.
The first death occurred on July 21, the last earlier this week.
"
A variant more resistant to natural immunity?
However, should we fear an epidemic resurgence thanks to this variant?
Nothing is less certain, but its evolution is "to follow closely", estimated on Twitter the president of the medical commission of establishment of the AP-HP, Rémi Salomon.
Still, its ability to kill vaccinated people can be alarming.
However, “we must take into account the particular context of this cluster, nuance the virologist Marc Van Ranst with the RTBF.
It is indeed difficult to control respiratory distress in a unit like this.
The very advanced age of the patients also played a role.
The oldest person who died was 93 years old.
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Read alsoCovid-19: but how do the variants evolve?
More resistant to the vaccine perhaps, the Colombian variant could however be limited in its propensity to spread compared to the Delta variant, dominant in most European countries.
Rémi Salomon presents it on Twitter as "a variant which could be more resistant to natural or vaccine immunity (compared to the South African Beta variant) but probably less transmissible than the Delta, which would mean that it would have little chance. to supplant it ”.
B.1.621 a variant which might be more resistant to natural or vaccine immunity (compare to the South African beta variant) but probably less transmissible than delta, which would mean that it would have little chance of supplanting it.
Let's hope so!
To follow closely.
https://t.co/wvXUOSFZbf
- Rémi Salomon (@RemiSalomon) August 6, 2021
"Alert for enhanced surveillance"
Detected in Belgium but also in Spain or the United States, the Colombian variant was the subject of a scientific study in July in England, where it was also observed in at least 16 subjects.
According to this study made public by the agency Public Health England (PHE), there is no indication that this variant will spread, even if its strain shows some "worrying mutations".
There is currently nothing to say either "that the variant makes vaccines against the coronavirus less effective or that it causes more serious disease", continues the PHE.
"We do not think that it is more lethal than the Delta variant", indicates the English agency.
These initial conclusions will need to be supported by others. The World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring the development of B.1.621 closely: it has been classified by the UN organization in the list of "variants currently under alert for surveillance. reinforced ”.
