Mu Covid variant: is it resistant to the vaccine? What experts say

Should the Mu variant of the coronavirus, also known as Colombian, raise the alarm in Europe? Is it resistant to the covid vaccine? Are the symptoms different? The new mutation, in a context dominated by the Delta variant, is in the spotlight of experts. “The Mu variant is the fifth global mutation of the coronavirus, it comes from South America, Ecuador and Colombia, but today its spread worldwide is less than 0.1%. So we avoid the usual terrorism of the variants and an alarmism excessive, certainly it could be resistant to vaccines but we need to know more and at the moment it concerns South America “, explains Matteo Bassetti, director of the infectious diseases department at the San Martino hospital in Genoa, to Adnkronos Health. The Mu variant “has developed in countries where vaccination has not been carried out and in which the virus circulates freely – he remarks – so we continue to say what we have always said: we circulate Covid less and to do so we need to vaccinate everyone. on the variants but it is too early to reach conclusions on this new variant, much more data is needed “. “Before launching uncontrollable alarmisms, a reasoned prudence is required to be maintained until this mutation is officially defined as Voc (Variant of Concern), given that at the moment it is still a YOU (Variant of Interest). of health care to highlight its presence, but we would do even better if, while not ignoring its existence, we avoided catastrophic leaks forward. In this moment, as well as not useful and indeed harmful “, they would be” after all also unmotivated “, underlines all ‘Adnkronos Health the clinical immunologist and allergist Mauro Minelli, coordinator for Southern Italy of the Foundation for Personalized Medicine. “This umpteenth mutation of Sars-CoV-2, characterized by the appearance of different substitutions in the sequence of amino acids that make up the now famous Spike protein, certainly has been rapidly increasing in Colombia where it was identified between January and April 2021. It is functionally similar to the already known Brazilian variant, but in Europe it is very infrequent “, observes the immunologist.” At the moment – he adds – to say that it ‘resists vaccines’ would seem to me a rather rash statement. It may have its own potential to affect the transmissibility of the infection and, perhaps, it may cause vaccines to give slightly less effective responses. But what can be credibly affirmed at the moment – Minelli remarks – is that new and more in-depth studies are needed to evaluate the biological and epidemiological roles of the replacement pattern found in this new strain, technically defined as B.1.621 “.” At the moment the Mu variant is only widespread in Latin America in a more significant way. Globally it represents a residual share. Like all variants that seem to have a rapid spread when isolated it is to be kept under control. Also because it has a genetic identity card that could suggest greater contagiousness, “virologist Giovanni Maga, director of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Cnr of Pavia, explains to Adnkronos. This variant” is included in the surveillance protocols for verify if it is a local phenomenon, which can be confined to the country of origin, or if it has a high potential for diffusibility. At the moment it is not possible to make any definite assessment. It is one of the variants that WHO classifies as variants of ‘interest’ to be followed, not yet dangerous. But it must be taken into account in surveillance “. For now, moreover,” we do not know if it really ‘bugs’ the vaccine. It is difficult to make predictions based on genetic characteristics. What matters is to see what happens in reality. Delta was also initially thought to have the ability to evade the vaccine response. Instead we have seen that it is more contagious, and the number of infections increases among people with a vaccine dose, but full vaccination is still effective. The predictions are always a bit risky “. The Mu variant” we are studying it right now, we have entered the data in our system and within about ten days we should have the first results on what type of mutations have affected the areas that may affect the activity of authorized vaccines. We will also understand what kind of contagiousness it possesses “, observes to Adnkronos Health Massimo Ciccozzi, director of the Medical Statistics and Epidemiology Unit of the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome.” For now, WHO has spoken of a variant of interest ‘but not of concern – Ciccozzi recalls – we are talking about a mutation that affects two countries in South America, I would wait for new data to give certainty about the danger “.” Our calculations, very complex and long, will be able to recreate the three-dimensional structure of the protein and in this way we can go and monitor whether the mutation can actually make the vaccine less effective “, continues Ciccozzi who adds on the contagiousness:” I don’t think it is greater than the Indian variant “, but it is clear that this Mu has developed in countries where” they have vaccinated little and even poorly and this can create the ground for the development of variants “.