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Medicine Science

WHO Official Downplays Coronavirus Variant Found in France (bloomberg.com) 62

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
The World Health Organization said a coronavirus variant found in France hasn't become much of a threat since it was first identified in November. From a report: The variant "has been on our radar," Abdi Mahamud, a WHO incident manager on Covid, said at a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. "That virus had a lot of chances to pick up." The variant was identified in 12 people in the southern Alps around the same time that omicron was discovered in South Africa last year. The latter mutation has since traveled the globe and kindled record levels of contagion, unlike the French one that researchers at the IHU Mediterranee Infection -- helmed by scientist Didier Raoult -- nicknamed IHU. The first patient identified with the variant was vaccinated and had just returned from Cameroon, IHU researchers wrote in a paper published on the medRxiv server in late December where they first drew attention to the atypical mutations.
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WHO Official Downplays Coronavirus Variant Found in France More

WHO Official Downplays Coronavirus Variant Found in France

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  • The Sacreblue! varient?

    • If we're lucky "Drapeau Blanc".

    • It's spelled "sacrebleu" IIRC and I don't recall ever hearing even a single French speaking person using that word! It's seems that only English speaking people use that word.
      https://www.merriam-webster.co... [merriam-webster.com]

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hey! ( 33014 )

        The Deuce you say.

      • If you're going to engage in this sort of pedantry, at least do it right. Link to the etymology [etymonline.com], which explains the origin of the world. The dictionary definition is nearly useless.

        • If you're going to engage in this sort of pedantry, at least do it right. Link to the etymology [etymonline.com], which explains the origin of the world. The dictionary definition is nearly useless.

          You guys are all as humorless as the Blue Haired Twitter crew! 8^)

        • Every language has these. For example I don't think I've ever heard a German speaker say "Schweinhund", but if you read war comics you'd think it was the only word in the entire language.

    • The Sacreblue! varient?

      The Pepe le Pew variant.?

  • Has it been sequenced? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Kernel Kurtz ( 182424 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2022 @04:21PM (#62142807)
    How many mutations and where in the genome?

    People following science want to know. Bloomberg reporter maybe not so much.

    • Re:Has it been sequenced? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Tailhook ( 98486 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2022 @04:30PM (#62142843)

      Yes, it's been sequenced. Here [firstpost.com] is slightly more information about it. Key points: 46 mutations including N501Y and E484K.

      • Good to know, thanks. So only time will tell if it will compete with Omicron for dominance, or if they provide cross immunity. It may just wait in the wings for the next post-Omicron wave. Or other new variants may arise in the meantime.

        Either way I'm glad I have my booster appointment on Thursday.

        • So only time will tell if it will compete with Omicron for dominance [...]

          I'm guessing it will surrender to omicron...

        • It's actualy just Omicron off for a bit of skiing in MontgenÃvre but giving a fake name and address to the gendarmerie so no-one will know they're skiving off on the job.
    • I guess the good thing is that these new varients are getting weaker and the shots protect against all varients (hospitalization). It seems like if you catch omicron, your going to be protected against the other varients as well. So hopefully that's the same with this un named varient as well.

      • It seems like if you catch omicron, your going to be protected against the other variants as well.

        For a little while for sure, way too early to say how long though. Neither "natural immunity" from infection nor vaccines are proving very durable so far. That has long been true of coronaviruses in general so no big shock.

        • It seems like if you catch omicron, your going to be protected against the other variants as well.

          For a little while for sure, way too early to say how long though. Neither "natural immunity" from infection nor vaccines are proving very durable so far. That has long been true of coronaviruses in general so no big shock.

          Flus are flus. Coronavirus will eventually become one more of the regular things people get vaccinated against, depending on which flu is expected that season.

          And no vaccine will keep people from getting the flu it is intended for, and no "natural immunity" that comes from surviving a previous bout will either. Although it is true that in people who have died from Covid-19 flu, it acts as a permanent block to getting any disease again.

          Which of course is the issue - there may be some utility to getting

          • Flus are flus. Coronavirus will eventually become one more of the regular things people get vaccinated against, depending on which flu is expected that season.

            That seems to be what most knowledgeable experts predict. Eventually we will have vaccines tailored to whatever SARS strains are predominant every year. just like with Influenza. People will still die of flu and people will still die of COVID. Probably about 10 or 20 times as many of the latter annually, but that is their choice and as long as the health care system is managing life will return to normal and nobody will care.

            • Flus are flus. Coronavirus will eventually become one more of the regular things people get vaccinated against, depending on which flu is expected that season.

              That seems to be what most knowledgeable experts predict. Eventually we will have vaccines tailored to whatever SARS strains are predominant every year. just like with Influenza.

              To me, the progress made i these Vaccines, in regards to mRNA versions becoming useable, is nothing short of the right thing coming along at the right time. The concept of mRNA has been around for quite a while, but they tended to be really short lived in the body.

              But tailoring to other flus and even HIV vaccines are in the offerings in the near future. Probably bad on me for sounding optimistic. 8^)

              • I'm very happy to live in a time when we have such a good level of defense against the prevalent contagions readily available.

                Darwin will take care of the rest slowly, but surely.

          • Your "rant" would make more sense if you would not keep up mixing up
            a) a Flue is not Corona
            b) Corona is not a Flu

            I means seriously? We have a Corona pandemic since 2 years, and you "keep insisting", it is just a Flu? You have orange hairs?

            • Your "rant" would make more sense if you would not keep up mixing up a) a Flue is not Corona b) Corona is not a Flu

              I means seriously? We have a Corona pandemic since 2 years, and you "keep insisting", it is just a Flu? You have orange hairs?

              https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]

              Sorry my dude, they are considered as having a common ancestor with influenza C Virus.

              No one is "insisting" anything. And it's easier to type out "flu" than Covid-19.

              If you are going to get pedantic, the official name is Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 but we all know what you mean when you write "Corona". Although some of the pedants might note that would be referring to the Corona of the Sun or other stars, a type of cigar, or a part of the penis.

              • Point is Corona is ot a Flu
                Why do you keep insisting on it?

                So which corona are you referring to?
                Does not matter at all: all coronas are not flue!!

      • I guess the good thing is that these new varients are getting weaker and the shots protect against all varients (hospitalization). It seems like if you catch omicron, your going to be protected against the other varients as well. So hopefully that's the same with this un named varient as well.

        The very nature of virii is that they mutate - a lot.

        The likely outcome of Covid-19 will eventually become just another flu. It's kind of a facepalm moment when we realize that people have decided that they would rather die than get the vaccines.

        • This monstrosity attacks a receptor that is expressed by almost every organ in your body. A recent study found that 100% of 177 survivors have autoantibodies.

          It will NEVER be "just the flu." Or if it is, it will be because it has evolved into something so different it can no longer be called "covid-19."
  • It's the FRANCE virus!

  • Downplays? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by PhrostyMcByte ( 589271 ) <phrosty@gmail.com> on Tuesday January 04, 2022 @04:34PM (#62142849) Homepage

    Downplaying makes it sound like they are being irresponsible and should be ringing a louder alarm bell. But that doesn't appear to be the reality here -- it sounds like they're just stating facts and drawing conclusions based on what data they have available.

    • Re:Downplays? (Score:5, Informative)

      by omnichad ( 1198475 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2022 @04:36PM (#62142861) Homepage

      There were 8 variants between Delta and Omicron that weren't worth talking about. The real question is why is this one being singled out as unimportant?

      • Slow news day.

      • Because the media said so.

      • This is a response to press making a huge deal out of it, i.e. it's being singled out as being important without a particular reason. Maybe because it's from Africa.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by UpnAtom ( 551727 )

        A legit-looking site posted some truly scary numbers. Link below.

        Thankfully, it look like they plucked them out of thin air.

        https://www.thailandmedical.ne... [thailandmedical.news]

        • I don't know about legit-looking, if you delve a bit deeper it looks like it's run by a crank that really likes exclamation points!!!

      • There were 8 variants between Delta and Omicron that weren't worth talking about. The real question is why is this one being singled out as unimportant?

        Yup. We are so proficient at identifying the natural mutations that come about in viruses - not that many years ago, we wouldn't even have known they existed until much later.

        This is actually some good news. Even the Omicron - for people who have received the three inoculations, it really isn't anywhere near as bad.

        The transmissibility of the Omicron virus is playing hell with the Anti-Vaxxer Kamikaze's who are prepared to die, and didn't get vaccinated at all. The US managed a world record million cas

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "WHO Researchers did their job, observed a variant, didn't panic, and continued doing their job."
      Just doesn't have the same ring to it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by noodler ( 724788 )

      The author clearly has brain damage and doesn't understand what the word 'downplaying' actually means.

  • The French have already surrendered to it. The virus is now in the process of establishing a new government.

  • The media here in California will tell everyone to freak out. They'll freak out and I'll get to work from home longer. :)

  • Preprint on this variant (Score:4, Informative)

    by kbahey ( 102895 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2022 @06:00PM (#62143141) Homepage

    Here is more info that what Bloomberg, of all places, will ever have ...

    It is called B.1.640.2.

    And this is the preprint on this variant: Emergence in Southern France of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of probably Cameroonian origin harbouring both substitutions N501Y and E484K in the spike protein [medrxiv.org].

    It has 30 amino acid substitutions, and 12 deletions.

    Any change in infectivity, virulence, or immune evasion is "To Be Determined" at this stage ...

  • We're two years in, and so far the IHU have a perfect record of not being able to publish anything even remotely correct. And I use the term "publish" very loosely. Empirically ignoring whatever's coming from there is the safe bet.

  • None of the variants was "much of a threat" until it was. WHO is a bunch of idiots.

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