IHU: what the experts know about the B.1.640.2 variant found in France

The World Health Organization has downplayed the threat of a new Covid variant with 46 mutations that was discovered in France.

Nicknamed IHU after it was reported by researchers at the IHU Mediterranee Infection institute in Marseille in October, the B.1.640.2 variant has been found in around 20 samples sequenced so far – and in only one since early December, reported The New York Times.

Dr Abdi Mahamud, a WHO incident manager on Covid, told a press briefing in Geneva this week that it “has been on our radar” but it is not currently a variant of concern.

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‘Shrug of the shoulders’

“Another day, another variant,” said Samuel Lovett, The Independent’s science correspondent. While the reaction to Omicron among many scientists was “laced with genuine fear and concern”, the new strain has been met with “a shrug of the shoulders”.

It was first detected in October and uploaded to the disease variant database Gisaid on 4 November. With its 46 mutations, many of which are on its spike protein, B.1.640.2 looks “problematic” on paper, said Lovett. “In reality, this is a variant that predates Omicron yet has failed to take off globally in the same way.”

The reason for this is unknown. Despite its mutations, “much depends on how they combine with one another to shape the characteristics of the virus”, explained Lovett. Only when scientists have more data will they be able to answer why it has not come to dominate like Omicron.

Origins

In a pre-print study uploaded to MedRxiv on 29 December, the IHU team said the first detected case was found in southeastern France in a vaccinated person who had recently travelled from Cameroon. The researchers’ report is yet to be peer reviewed.

Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, noted on Twitter this week that there had been “lots of chat about B.1.640.2 in the last few days”, but that it was not a variant “worth worrying about too much” at the moment. The virus has “had a decent chance to cause trouble” yet this “never really materialised”.

Making a similar point, the WHO’s Mahamud told reporters that the virus “has had a lot of chances to pick up”, but has not spread widely over the past two months.

‘Different not necessarily worse’

Does the discovery of B.1.640.2 mean the sky is falling and we should be panicking? “Umm, no,” said Bruce Y. Lee, a professor of health policy and writer for Forbes.

For a variant to become one of concern, there has to be evidence that it is more transmissible, more likely to cause severe Covid-19 or more likely to evade immunity than its predecessors. “Different doesn’t necessarily mean worse,” said Lee.

However, he thinks it does “merit some close watching”. For now, he concluded, “consider this to be a variant of we-don’t-know-what-this-means-because-there-haven’t-been-enough-data-and-studies-yet-to-tell-please-do-not-jump-to-conclusions”.