New variant IHU ‘very infectious’, but no need to panic yet: Experts

A health worker collects swab samples of a passenger at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Kurla on Thursday. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

What does IHU, the new variant of Covid-19 detected in France, mean for Mumbai and India? Health experts raise concern amid the city and country witnessing the beginning of the third wave with Delta and Omicron variants. Dr Wiqar Shaikh, professor of Medicine, Grant Medical College and Sir J J Group of Hospitals, said he is alarmed by the reported new variant of SARS-CoV-2 which has emerged in Southern France. Dubbed the IHU variant as it was researched and detected at the IHU Méditerranée Infection Institute in Marseille, France, the variant has now been labelled as the B.1.640.2.

Dr Shaikh said that the study on the IHU variant was published in the journal medRxiv on December 29, 2021. The study reported the first case of IHU in a French national who visited Cameroon, a country in Africa, for three days. On his return, he tested positive for Covid-19 but his genome sequencing revealed what is now known as the IHU variant. Interestingly enough, he said that the visitor to Cameroon was fully vaccinated. The study also reports 12 more cases of the IHU variant till the time of publication.

He also said that the authors of the medRxiv article emphasised that their observations show the unpredictability of the new variants. Besides, new variants could be introduced from abroad, something which needs to alert authorities to assess and monitor international travellers. Also, the emergence of the IHU variant warrants genomic surveillance so that both, existing and emerging variants could be detected. Dr Shaikh said that extensive genomic surveillance is unfortunately missing in India.

What does IHU mean for India and for Mumbai?

Dr Shaikh said that unfortunately, the Omicron variant and the third wave in India have clearly shown us that complacency during the current pandemic is simply not acceptable. He said he was surprised that people repeatedly discussed how Omicron was mild. Today, Omicron cases are rising exponentially and hospitalisations are rapidly increasing, with India reporting its first Omicron death, he said. He added he is worried that IHU would do to Mumbai and to India what Delta has done in the past and what Omicron is doing today.

"The unpredictability of the emergence of variants has struck the world once again. This time, the new variant was detected by researchers at the IHU, and the variant has 46 mutations. By comparison, the Omicron variant has 32 mutations. This is leading to the fear that IHU could be more transmissible and resistant to existing vaccines. However, experts have said that it is too early to say anything with certainty about its characteristics. While Mumbai is pulling in resources to fight back against the third wave caused by Omicron and Delta variants, scientists are distracted by the continuing trail of new variants... Mumbai with 10,600 new cases each day will not be far behind from churning out newer variants…Large cities are up for a long battle," said Dr Subhash Hira, professor of Global Health at University of Washington-Seattle and invited member to WHO-Geneva Covid-19 several review panels.

‘Do not panic about new variant'

"The exact biological behaviour of this variant is yet to be determined. Whether it will be more dangerous than the existing variants will be proven in due course as the clinical picture evolves," said Dr Ketan Vagholkar, professor of Surgery at DY Patil Medical College. "With the onset of the so-called third wave due to the Omicron variant in our country, speculations on the patterns of presentations of the IHU variant are increasing. This may add unnecessary fear and create more panic which is not called for. Emergence of new variants over a short period of time only leads to difficulty in diagnosis and planning treatment protocols. Vaccines need to be modified as the original vaccines will hardly provide any protection against the new variants. However, vaccine modification is a very difficult task with questionable outcomes. The only advice for citizens is not to panic with news of more new variants emerging, but to strictly follow Covid-appropriate behaviour," said Dr Vagholkar.

‘We will keep facing new variants from time to time'

"The way Covid virus mutates in various regions of the world, we will keep facing new variants from time to time," said Dr Santosh Bansode, Head of the Department Emergency Medicine, Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai Central. "Covid will vanish if we find a vaccine which can protect us from all possible mutant variants or we will find a drug which can cure Covid at a faster rate. Till that time, we may keep facing new variants," he concluded.

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No. of IHU cases detected globally so far