The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is tracking and monitoring a new coronavirus strain, called “Mu variant”, designated a variant of interest.
Mu, or B.1.621, was first detected in Colombia at the start of the year and Mu has been recorded in South America and Europe.
The WHO said the variant has mutations that indicate a risk of resistance to vaccines and stressed that further studies were needed to better understand it.
What is the Mu variant?
Mu, also known as B.1.621, variant of COVID-19 was first detected in Colombia in January and it’s now been listed as one of five variants of interest by the WHO.
“Based on the latest round of assessments, B.1.621 was classified as a VOI on 30 August 2021 and given the WHO label “Mu”. This includes the descendent Pango lineage B.1.621.1. This variant is known as 21H in Nextstrain nomenclature”, WHO’s newest epidemiology report says.
According to the WHO’s newest epidemiology report, Preliminary data presented to the Virus Evolution Working Group show a reduction in neutralization capacity of convalescent and vaccinee sera similar to that seen for the Beta variant, but this needs to be confirmed by further studies.
According to the WHO’s report, Mu has been listed as “of interest” because it has a “constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape” that need to be studied further.
“Since its first identification in Colombia in January 2021, there have been a few sporadic reports of cases of the Mu variant and some larger outbreaks have been reported from other countries in South America and in Europe,” the bulletin read.
According to the bulletin, As of 29 August, over 4500 sequences (3794 sequences of B.1.621 and 856 sequences of B.1.621.1) have been uploaded to GISAID from 39 countries. Although the global prevalence of the Mu variant among sequenced cases has declined and is currently below 0.1%, the prevalence in Colombia (39%) and Ecuador (13%) has consistently increased.
More studies are required to understand the phenotypic and clinical characteristics of this variant, said in the bulletin. “The epidemiology of the Mu variant in South America, particularly with the co-circulation of the Delta variant, will be monitored for changes,”
There are four coronavirus variants of concern, as deemed by the WHO, with the Alpha variant – first recorded in Kent, England – seen in 193 countries, Beta in 141, Gamma in 91, and Delta in 170 countries, while Mu is the fifth variant of interest.
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