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June 19, 2021 There are three versions currently most widespread of the Delta variant, so far present in a hundred countries and indicated with the initials B.1.617.
It appeared in India in October 2020, at the same time as another similar but less aggressive variant, B.1.618.
According to the terminology recently introduced by the WHO, what is now the Delta variant in the international genetic databases has become a special supervised particular concern. Like all variants, Delta also accumulates mutations with relative ease, so much so that very soon it gave rise to a sort of 'family', whose members are the three versions called B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3.
Of these, the most widespread is B.1.617.2, considered 60% more effective in transmitting than the Alpha variant thanks to some mutations, such as K417N, also present in Gamma variants, B.1.351 identified for the first time in Brazil and in the Beta identified in South Africa, and the E 484Q, also present in the Gamma variant.
The variant B.1.617.2 has now in turn changed, developing a new version, indicated with the acronym B.1.617.2.1 or more simply AY.1. It has been identified in India, in the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (Igib) of the Indian National Research Council, Csir.
According to the Igib researchers, it would already be widespread in some countries and would have characteristics that could make it more resistant to both Covid vaccines and antibody-based therapies. To give it these properties would be the K417N mutation, also present in the Beta variant.