IHU, the new Covid-19 variant is more infectious than Omicron: Things to know

Amidst the rising cases of the highly mutated SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron all across the world, news of another brand-new variant called IHU has surfaced. This new strain of the novel coronavirus has been detected in Southern France in more than 12 individuals with a travel history to African country Cameroon and back. Being called IHU, it is a B.1.640.2 variant and has been identified by scientists at IHU Mediterranean Infection Institute from which it derived its name. The exact behaviour of this variant or whether it can be fought by the Covid vaccines is still under research. Here’s what we know so far. 

Characteristics of IHU 
According to scientists who detected this variant, IHU has 46 mutations that are even more than the current surging variant Omicron. This makes it highly contagious and more resistant to the Covid-19 vaccines available. However, it’s still under research.  

What makes IHU potent than the other variants are that, apart from 46 mutations, it has 37 deletions resulting in 30 amino acids substitutions and 12 deletions. These amino acids are building blocks of life that help the virus mutate faster. Among them, about 14 amino acid substitutions including N501Y and E484K and 9 deletions that further spike the protein present in the virus, have already been found in the previous variants like Beta, Gamma, Theta and Omicron.  

Fortunately, other than France and its origin country Cameroon, no other country has reported any case of IHU variant yet. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has labelled it as an under-investigation virus.  

Origin of IHU 
So far, 12 cases have been detected near Marseille in France, with most of the infected persons having a travel background to the African nation Cameroon. Around late-December last year, the first person to be diagnosed with IHU was a male adult who tested positive 5 days after his return from Africa. At first, this variant was classified as not-so-dangerous one. However, when the number of cases kept on rising making it reach up to 12 within a week, virologists declared it as a dominant variant with close relation to the original virus, with a high capacity to multiply.  

With the onset of the new year, IHU has thus been declared as a “variant of concern” just like Omicron. It is highly infectious and resistant to vaccines. Since most of the vaccines we have so far are targeted towards SARS-CoV-2, they do not contain antibodies to battle the B.1.640.2 variant.