And because the news coincided with the massive spread of “Omicron” in France, which the French Minister of Health, Olivier Veran, estimated at half a million actual injuries per day, the news drew great attention, and perhaps caused some terror to the point that some described it as dangerous and warned against it.
What is the truth?
The news was initially published as a tweet by the University Medical Institute in Marseilles for Infectious Diseases, in which it stated that “the Mediterranean University Medical Institute for Infectious Diseases has detected a new mutation for (Covid 19), in the city of Forcalquier (southern France) and it was given the name: B.1640.2.”
This tweet was published on the account of the French Institute, on the ninth of last December.
Two days ago, researcher Helen Bannon republished the news on her Twitter account, but with some additional “suspense”, as she accompanied it with a scientific research and a sentence saying: Here are some details of the structure of the spinal protein of the new mutant.
It is known that this spinal protein, known as “spike”, is what gives corona viruses their coronary shape, which gives them their name “corona”, as it is the one that forms the spiny protrusions on the surface of the virus, and is responsible for implementing the virus’s attachment to human cells.
Since the attached study was published in a scientific journal, “Medrixiv”, this suggested that it was scientifically proven.
The research focuses on 46 mutations in the virus, and researchers have named this mutant B.1640.2, knowing that it is the result of another mutation given the name B.1640, which was monitored by the French Ministry of Health in September 2021.
But the new mutant B.1640.2 was detected in November 2021 in 12 infected people, all of whom reside in the “Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur” region in southern France, and the number of infections is few so far.
It is believed that the “zero casualty” is an adult vaccinated, who arrived in France from Cameroon, and the symptoms of the infection appeared to be mainly respiratory.
Initial notes
Researcher Helen Bannon, a member of the Independent Scientific Council, clarified in her tweet that these observations are still in an early stage.
As for the second observation, it is that those who wrote these “initial observations” about the virus were a group of doctors and researchers in immunology, including the controversial French doctor Didier Raoult, whose name disappeared from the media after filing a lawsuit against him related to what he published of false information about the drug “chloroquine.” .
In order to verify the seriousness of this new “mutant” called: B.1640.2., we contacted the World Health Organization.
The organization’s spokeswoman, Fadela Shayeb, explained to us that this mutant is classified by the Health Organization as “under surveillance”, meaning that it does not raise concern so far.
Shayeb added to “Sky News Arabia”, that the organization periodically publishes a list of the mutagens of concern, including “Omicron”, and confirmed that the organization monitors the developments in the structure of dozens of mutantes for the disease “Covid 19”, and also studies their effects on the body and its transmission from one body to another.
The World Health Organization identifies several points for classifying viruses, the first of which is the danger to the infected body, the second is the speed of infection, while the third point is the ability of the mutant to resist vaccines and drugs, and the fourth is the inability to detect infection.
The researcher specializing in epidemiology in France, Riad Arabi Darkawi, believes that the new mutation that the Marseille Research Center is talking about includes the mutation that was in the “alpha” mutation in Britain, and that it has a mutation in another site that appeared in the South African mutant.
Dargawi pointed out, in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, that the research referred to is not an elaborate scientific research (that is, it was not subject to the arbitration of other scholars who have verified its authenticity), but rather it is a set of preliminary observations about the observed mutant, but it is not an indication of its seriousness.
Various mutants
The French doctor, Catherine Hill, an epidemiologist, said that hundreds of mutations have been monitored by scientists since the emergence of coronaviruses (Corona), because the mutation is an adaptation carried out by the virus to ensure itself a longer survival, but the mutation is atrophying and decaying alone with time if it is not rapidly spreading.
The World Health Organization cooperates with a network of partners in all countries of the world who inform it of the detection of new mutations, so it studies the series of the genetic code and gives it classifications, the least dangerous of which are the ones that are placed under surveillance, while the most dangerous are registered on global regulations such as “Omicron” and “Delta”, and they are accompanied by warnings from the Health Organization.
As for the designation of viruses, it is taken from letters in the Greek Greek alphabet, so the name “alpha” was given to the mutant that was detected in Britain in September 2020, and the name “beta” to the mutant that spread in South Africa in May 2020, and there are two mutagens that operate the Health Organization and are monitored by Close up are the “lambda” that was detected in Peru in December 2020, and the “Mo” mutant in Colombia in January 2021.
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