Deltacron

2022 - 3 - 11

New 'Deltacron' Covid-19 Coronavirus Variant Is A Recombinant Of ... (Forbes)

The Institut Pasteur in France has now shared “solid evidence for a Delta-Omicron recombinant virus.”

For now, this “Deltacron” variant hasn’t risen to the level of being either a “variant of interest” or a “variant of concern,” as defined by the WHO. It does, however, bear close watching and following. The emergence of the “Deltacron” variant is yet another reminder that the Covid-19 pandemic is not over until official public health organizations have declared it over. Nevertheless, as long as the virus remains so widespread, so many people remain unvaccinated, and the SARS-CoV-2 keeps knocking spikes so frequently, chances are new variants of interest and concern will at some point emerge. But it hasn’t been the only country to see this virus “love child” of the Delta and Omicron variants. And whether it’s more likely to cause more severe Covid-19. OK, the two biggest questions are whether it’s more transmissible and more likely to cause more severe Covid-19. And whether it’s more adept at evading existing immune protection from vaccination or previous natural infection. Similar “recombined” versions of the virus have also appeared in Denmark, which was the first country in the European Union to lift Covid-19 restrictions nationwide in early February, and the Netherlands: There’s probably already been a fair number of people infected with both the Delta and the Omicron variants simultaneously, since both variants have spread in relatively uncontrolled manners throughout the U.S. and Europe. Therefore, the emergence of such a recombinant should not be a surprise, as Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, who’s the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) technical lead for the COVID-19 response, tweeted: When two different versions of the SARS-CoV-2 infect the same cell to then play “hide the spike,” so to speak, and reproduce, they can essentially swap genetic material. The research team dubbed this new version the “Deltacron” variant, as a combination of the words “Delta” and “Omicron,” perhaps because the “Delta” variant had emerged earlier than the “Omicron” variant and “Omilta” may sound too much like a militarized version of an omelet or “OMG.” With the Delta and the Omicron variants of the Covid-19 coronavirus circulating so widely for so long, the two versions of the virus didn’t need Tinder to find each other. As Lisa Kim reported for Forbes back then, Leondios Kostrikis, professor of biological sciences at the University of Cyprus, and his team indicated that they had discovered a new version of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that combined characteristics of the Delta and Omicron variants. The word “recombinant” is related to the word “recombining” and refers to a recombining of genetic material.

Meet 'Deltacron,' the Delta-Omicron hybrid COVID variant ... (Fortune)

"This is what viruses do. They change over time," a WHO official said this week.

"Even the CDC is now making recommendations based on politics instead of what's best for public health," she said. "If it's going to rain, carry an umbrella. "We tend of think of these as restrictions. "We cannot allow this virus to spread at such an intense level." "It could outpace the human desire to implement safety measures," she said. As it turns out, the naysayers were wrong.

What is the Deltacron variant of Covid and where has it been found? (The Guardian)

Another new coronavirus variant has been identified, this one containing elements of Delta and Omicron.

“We need to keep an eye on the behaviour of this recombinant in terms of its transmissibility and its ability to escape vaccine-induced immune protection,” he says. “The one we see in France and in Denmark/Netherlands look super similar and might be the same recombinant (with the same parental viruses) that have travelled,” he said. As the virus continues to circulate, particularly in under-vaccinated populations and in people whose vaccine-induced immunity is decaying, we are very likely to see more variants including those generated through recombination.” “Genomes with a similar profile have been also identified in Denmark and the Netherlands,” Gisaid says. “This also serves to reinforce the need to maintain genetic surveillance. Importance of sequencing, analytics and rapid data sharing as we deal with this pandemic.”

What is Deltacron? Everything you need to know about the new ... (The Independent)

A fresh reminder that the pandemic is not yet over comes as new Covid-19 variant Deltacron is officially identified with cases confirmed in France and the ...

Importance of sequencing, analytics & rapid data sharing as we deal with this pandemic.” There is no clear data yet whether Deltacron is more infectious or deadly than its predecessors. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, echoed this sentiment and said the emergence of Deltacron “serves to highlight the need to maintain genetic surveillance” in the UK and elsewhere. However, Aris Katzourakis, a professor of evolution and genomics at the University of Oxford, said: “This one is legit,” adding, “[It is] one to keep an eye on.” Researchers said that the variant has been identified in at least 17 patients in the US and Europe, and according to UKHSA around 30 cases have been detected in the whole of the UK as reported by The Guardian.

Scientists Identify New COVID Variant Called 'Deltacron' (WebMD)

A new COVID-19 variant -- unofficially dubbed “Deltacron” because it's a combination of the Delta and Omicron variants -- has been detected in a small ...

Variants of concern are identified with a Greek letter, like Delta or Omicron. "We're seeing a very intense level of circulation. "We have not seen any change in the epidemiology with this recombinant.

New 'Deltacron' Variant Is Rare and Similar to Omicron, Experts Say (The New York Times)

In recent days, scientists have reported that a hybrid of the Omicron and Delta coronavirus variants has been popping up in several countries in Europe.

They give recombinant viruses a two-letter abbreviation starting with X. XA, for example, is a hybrid that arose in December 2020 from a mixture of the Alpha variant and another lineage of coronaviruses called B.1.177. He also criticized the scientists for unleashing lurid nicknames for the recombinant that were immediately picked up in news articles and social media posts claiming that it was a hoax or had been produced in a lab. Dr. Simon-Loriere and other researchers are conducting experiments to see how the new recombinant performs in dishes of cells. That will probably change in the weeks to come. The variant uses it to successfully invade cells in the nose and the upper airway, but it doesn’t do so well deep in the lungs. When that cell starts producing new viruses, the new genetic material may be mixed up, potentially producing a new, hybrid virus. When Dr. Nguyen looked for the same pattern of mutations, he found more possible recombinants in the Netherlands and Denmark. “That led me to suspect that these might be real,” he said in an interview. The spike protein is the most important part of the virus when it comes to invading cells. On March 8, the researchers posted the first genome of the recombinant on GISAID. The gene that encodes the virus’s surface protein — known as spike — comes almost entirely from Omicron. The rest of the genome is Delta. Instead, it looked to Dr. Nguyen as though each virus in the sample actually carried a combination of genes from the two variants. He found samples collected in France in January that researchers had identified as a mix of Delta and Omicron variants.