- Andre Bernath
- BBC
The first cases of Deltacrone were discovered in France in January 2022
On the ninth of March, the World Health Organization announced that scientists had discovered a new mutation of the Corona virus.
It has been informally called “deltacron”, because it is a mixture of the delta and omicron modifiers.
The World Health Organization does not yet classify it as a “mutant of concern” – one that might have a significant public health impact.
Deltacrone cases have been reported in Europe, the United States and South America.
However, scientists and health experts are still unsure of the critical factors for this new mutation, particularly whether it is highly transmissible or resistant to vaccines, or whether it causes severe symptoms.
So what do we know regarding him so far?
Origin and spread
The first cases of Deltacrone were discovered in France in January 2022, and this was confirmed.
Since then, other cases have emerged in Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, according to information from Gesid, an online platform where scientists from around the world share genetic information related to the coronavirus.
More recently, deltacrone cases have been observed in the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil.
The number of cases associated with this mutation remains very low: as of 15 March, only 47 samples of the deltacron mutant have been submitted to GESED, 36 of which are from France.
Although this is not conclusive information, the fact that the number of deltacron cases did not rise significantly during the January-March period can be interpreted as an initial indication that this mutant is no more infectious than Delta and Omicron.
picture released, Getty Images
Corona virus mutant uses spiny proteins (red) to contact the receptors of our cells (blue) and start the infection process
More data to support this view comes from an as-yet-unpublished study by researchers at Helix, a private genetic sequencing company in the United States.
Scientists analyzed more than 29,000 positive samples for infection with the Coronavirus, collected between November 2021 and February 2022, during which time Delta and Omicron spread widely in the United States.
But of all these positive cases, only two were associated with deltacrone.
The authors of the study concluded that, at present, cases of infection with this mutant are “rare” and “there is no evidence that the delta-omicron mixture leads to a virus more susceptible to infection compared to the circulating omicron strains.”
How do mutants mix?
Virologist Felipe Navica, who works at Brazil’s Fucruz, a public health research organisation, told the BBC that mutants combining to form a new strain were not something rare or unexpected.
“It is possible that this has already happened a number of times with other strains. But because the coronavirus mutants were not very different from each other at first, it became more difficult to detect,” he added.
He continued, “Viruses are constantly evolving, and the emergence of new mutations is not necessarily a bad thing. We now need to assess and understand the impact of this on the epidemic.”
But how does this integration happen in practice?
picture released, Getty Images
The high prevalence of delta and omicron mutants explains the emergence of the ‘deltakron’ mutant.
First, we have to keep in mind that the past few months have seen a massive spread of two coronaviruses: Delta and Omicron.
In this context, an individual can simultaneously be infected with both mutants, when coming into contact with infected people in a bar, on public transportation, or in any other crowded place.
Mutants can infect one cell at the same time. As a result, the new mutants of the virus bear the genetic characteristics of both delta and omicron.
In the case of “deltacron”, the scientists observed that it carried the spiny proteins of the omicron and the “body” of the delta mutant.
However, it remains unclear whether this “mixture” of two important strains of coronavirus can cause a more serious condition, with an increased likelihood of hospitalization or death.
There is also no information regarding whether the new mutant can escape the immunity that the body acquires due to previous infection or vaccination.
Are there reasons to be concerned?
National and international public health authorities have called for calm over this new mutation. So far, neither the World Health Organization nor the US Centers for Disease Control has classified deltacrone as a variant of concern.
At a press conference on March 9, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on coronavirus, confirmed that “no changes in the epidemic or disease severity associated with this mutation have been observed.”
picture released, Getty Images
Scientists are still trying to understand the new mutant
“Unfortunately, we would expect to see more reintegrating viruses, as changing over time is exactly what these pathogens do,” Van Kerkhove said.
Virologist Felipe Navica adds that the emergence of a new mutant reinforces the importance of genetic monitoring by scientists.
“We need to study more and more sample sequences to understand if this new mutant has any effect,” he says.
But Navika also notes that people should be vigilant, saying: “From an individual point of view, it is very important to supplement the vaccination schedule with the recommended doses.”
The virologist concludes by saying that “preventive measures such as washing hands and wearing a mask still reduce the possibility of infection with any of the Corona virus mutations.”