Science and Technology Daily (Reporter Liu Xia) According to a report by the American Fun Science website on March 11, French scientists have confirmed for the first time through genome sequencing that the new coronavirus "deltacron" variant that has previously attracted a lot of attention does exist. , which combines the mutations in the new coronavirus delta variant and the Omicron variant.
Cases have now been reported in the United States and Europe.
Researchers at the Institute for Medical and Teaching of Mediterranean Infectious Diseases in Marseille, France, published an article on medRxiv, a preprint site for medical research papers, on March 8 that they confirmed the existence of the new variant through genome sequencing.
Moreover, the variant has been detected in several regions of France.
In addition, data provided by the Global Shared Influenza Database (GISAID) shows that cases related to "Delta Chron" have also been found in Denmark and the Netherlands.
Helix, a California-based genetic research company, found two cases in the United States.
According to the British "Guardian" report, the United Kingdom has confirmed about 30 "Delta Coron" cases.
And, according to GISAID, the new variant may have been circulating in the population since January.
The French researchers pointed out that the new hybrid variant "Delta Chron" was produced by recombination.
Recombination is when two different variants of a virus infect a patient at the same time, exchanging genetic material to produce new offspring.
The paper, published in medRxiv, states that the "backbone" of the "delta chron" variant comes from the delta variant; its spike protein, the protein that enables the virus to enter host cells, comes from the omicron variant. body.
World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Dr Sumia Swaminathan tweeted on March 8: "We already know that recombination events can occur in humans or animals when multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants are circulating. appeared in the body. Now, we need to wait for experiments to characterize this new variant."
So far, scientists have not found any change in the severity of the new variant compared to previous variants of the new coronavirus, Maria van Kerckhoff, WHO's technical lead for the new coronavirus, said at a news conference. But many scientific studies are underway.
"Unfortunately, we do see the emergence of new recombinants, because that's what viruses are, and they change over time," Kerckhoff said. "Coronavirus is more transmissible, it infects animals, and potentially reinfect humans."