A virologist recently identified a new COVID-19 variant. The recent discovery is theorized to be a combination of properties between two previous coronavirus variants known as the delta and omicron.
Deltacron Variant
The 'deltacron' fusion of variants was detected in a small population located in scattered parts of the European regions. According to the World Health Organization, the affected countries are Denmark, France, and the Netherlands.
The data from the new coronavirus threat is still limited due to the isolated cases being in smaller groups of patients. Among the information yet to be presented by the experts are the variant's transmission rate and the severity of illness a patient could get upon contraction.
World Health Organization COVID-19 expert and technical officer Maria Van Kerkhove explained in a news briefing that the international agency does not see any epidemiological change so far amidst the surge of the deltacron.
Upon detecting the new variant combination, there was no change in the severity of the current cases, but there are already upcoming studies that will show us the full perspective of this virus, she continued.
WHO experts warned that, like other variants, the deltacron is likely to spread.
Van Kerkhove said that the appearance of recombinants like the deltacron was already expected due to the natural changes they exhibit over time.
In recent records of the new COVID-19 variant, the experts observed an intense level of circulation. Van Kerkhove explained that there are cases where the virus has infected animals, leading to the probability that the problem could be transmitted to humans again.
According to a report by WebMD, a paper regarding the deltacron cases in the United States is expected to be published in the journal medRxiv.
Deltacron was already identified in some COVID-19 cases of the United States. The scholars from the California-based laboratory Helix already performed an investigation involving 29,000 samples. This collection, which includes positive versions of coronavirus specimens, was collected in the country between November 2021 and February 2022.
New COVID-19 Version Not a 'Variant of Concern'
Among the COVID-19 samples, Helix lab stumbled upon different versions of deltacron in two infection samples.
From the total number of specimens, 20 other cases were detected with versions of the delta and omicron, and one case showed both the separate variants present along with deltacron itself.
The name 'deltacron' is not yet officialized by WHO or the scientists looking into the research. The international health institution does not consider the new variant fusion a 'variant of concern' yet due to the recorded cases being far from widespread.
Helix chief science expert Wiliam Lee said that the scarcity of records from the deltacron, as well as the two distinct cases they identified, suggests that the new coronavirus will not even be considered as a variant of concern.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health's epidemiology specialist William Hanage explained in a USA Today report that a virus could only become a variant if the cases are already in larger populations. If the virus is not causing many cases, people can be assured that the problem is far from a global concern, Hanage added.
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