Deltakron: New Corona variant "is not real" - Research comments on false alarms

Created: 01/11/2022, 08:24 AM

From: Tobias Utz

Once again, a supposedly new Corona variant is detected: But how dangerous is the mutation?

The professional world expresses itself.

Update from Tuesday, January 11th, 2022, 8:00 a.m.:

The supposed Corona variant Deltakron is apparently an artifact that was created by a laboratory error. Numerous experts commented after Cypriot researchers reported on their find. “Deltakron is not real and was probably caused by an artifact during sequencing, that is, contamination. Let's not mix up the names of infectious diseases to create a couple that sounded prominently, ”wrote Krutika Kuppalli, WHO corona expert, on Twitter, for example.

The Greek medical professor Gkikas Magiorkinis assessed the situation in a similar way: “Regarding the Deltakron of Cyprus, about which a lot has been heard in the Greek media lately, first independent analyzes show that it is a technical error of the laboratory in the gene reading process “, So the expert on Facebook.

The voices that did not assume any new Corona variant had already increased (see update from 11.45 a.m.).

A supposedly new Corona variant was found in Cyprus.

(Symbol photo) © Bihlmayer Fotografie / Imago Images

Deltakron: New Corona variant or false alarm?

+++ 11.45 a.m.:

According to experts, the alleged evidence of a mixed variant of Delta and Omikron in Cyprus is probably due to contamination during the analysis. "These genomes are very likely artifacts," explained Richard Neher from the University of Basel, leading expert on virus variants, the dpa.

The omicron mutations that were observed here in connection with delta genome sequences all affect a DNA segment that is often very weak in the case of delta detection and is therefore very susceptible to contamination. Other experts on Twitter, such as WHO expert Maria van Kerkhove, expressed a similar opinion: The result is likely to be due to contamination during sequencing. Virologist Tom Peacock from Imperial College in London had already put forward this thesis (see first report).

“It is entirely possible that there are recombinants, but so far no major outbreaks with such variants have been observed,” emphasized Neher.

“These genomes from Cyprus are probably not recombinants.” A member of the Greek crisis team for the corona pandemic, Gikas Magiorkinis, also stated that Kostrikis' conclusions were wrong.

"First analyzes show that it is a technical error by the laboratory," tweeted the epidemiologist.

Kostrikis himself, however, initially did not want to admit a misjudgment, he insisted on his results on Monday.

New Corona variant Deltakron discovered

First report from Monday, January 10th, 2022, 8.30 a.m .:

Nicosia / London - A new variant of the corona virus was discovered in Cyprus.

A team of scientists reported at the weekend that it was Deltakron, a mixture of the Delta and the Omicron variant * of Sars-CoV-2.

This is reported by the Bloomberg news agency.

The supposedly new Corona variant Deltakron was discovered in Cyprus.

© Sascha Steinach / Imago Images

Virologist Leondios Kostrikis, a researcher at the University of Cyprus, is behind the variant find.

According to his own information, his team was able to decode Deltakron using sequencing.

At the beginning of January 2022, the data on Deltakron were finally sent to the international science database "Gisaid".

"In the future, we will see whether this strain is pathological or more contagious, or whether it will prevail over Delta and Omikron," said Kostrikis. So far, only 25 infections with the Deltakron variant have been found. The data situation is extremely thin: Little is known about the infectiousness and the severity of the disease of Covid-19.

How the new Corona variant * could have come about is also unclear.

A combination of different strands of variants is considered an option.

Virologist Tom Peacock from Imperial College London put forward another theory following the find.

He reported on Twitter about a possible contamination in the laboratory.

A new Corona variant was only recently discovered in France.

There is hardly any reliable data on this either.

According to Peacock, in both cases it is unlikely that "something real or bad" will happen: "There are (yet) no clear signs of this," said the virologist.

(tu)