The ‘mu’ COVID-19 variant has reached Dallas County. Here’s 5 things to know

Another variant of COVID-19 has reached Dallas County, health officials say.

The variant, known as B.1.621 or mu, was added to the World Health Organization’s list of Variants of Interest on August 30th.

A strain is considered an interesting variant if it causes significant community transmission or has genetic traits that suggest it may influence factors such as disease severity and resistance to vaccines or treatment. It is one step among the worrying varieties that are becoming more widespread.

Although health experts say the new variant is not yet a threat, it is important to monitor the emerging strain. Here’s what you need to know.

Where does the mu variant come from?

According to the WHO, the mu variant was first detected in Colombia in January.

Since then, the variant has spread to 39 countries, and its prevalence in Colombia and Ecuador has “increased consistently,” says the WHO.

How common is it?

The delta variant still accounted for over 99% of cases in the USA at the end of August, so the mu variant is not yet a cause for concern.

According to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data, a database of coronaviruses and influenza viruses around the world, an estimated 2,400 cases of the variant were discovered in the United States in early September.

All but one state, Nebraska, have recorded cases of the strain, according to data compiled by the Center for Viral Systems Biology at Scripps Research.

In Dallas County, health officials have recorded five cases of the mu variant, said Dr. Jeffrey SoRelle, an assistant professor in the Pathology Department at UT Southwestern Medical Center leading efforts to analyze COVID-19 tests.

He said the cases were discovered between late July and early to mid-August, but since COVID-19 tests take a week or two to analyze, more could emerge.

Not all cases were travel-related, suggesting that there is some spread in the community, he said. UTSW researchers don’t yet know if any of the five cases were among vaccinated people.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the mu variant have not yet given an official classification, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading US infectious disease expert, said the United States is actively monitoring them.

What is different about the mu variant?

The mu variant contains mutations in the spike protein found on the virus that causes COVID-19, SoRelle said.

The mutations are similar to those found in the B.1.1.7 or alpha variant, which originated in the United Kingdom, and the P.1 or gamma variant, which was first identified in travelers from Brazil.

Before the highly contagious Delta variant hit the market, the Alpha variant was considered more transmissible than the 2020 COVID-19 strain. It’s likely that mu transmissibility is somewhere between Alpha and Delta, SoRelle said.

“So far we’ve seen [mu] in the US, Connecticut and the Virgin Islands with a prevalence of up to 8%, ”he said. “But it appears that it is Delta and, more recently, not competing [of mu] have actually declined quite a bit in these areas. “

Do vaccines work against the variant?

Fauci said the mu strain of COVID-19 “has a constellation of mutations that suggest it would evade certain antibodies,” but that more data is needed to know for sure what this means, the New reported York Times.

He also said the current vaccines are still effective against other COVID-19 variants with similar properties.

The WHO also says that preliminary data has shown that COVID-19 vaccines may not be as effective against the strain, but that more studies are needed to confirm this finding.

Pfizer told the Washington Post that it is studying the effect of its vaccine on the variant and plans to collect data for peer review.

“To date, we have been encouraged by both the real world data and laboratory studies of the vaccine and see no evidence that the virus or its circulating variants, which are of concern, regularly escape protection,” said Pfizer spokesman Kit Longley.

What does this mean for Dallas County?

SoRelle and the UT Southwestern team are only sequencing COVID-19 tests from UT Southwestern providers, which means they still have a somewhat limited view of the actual prevalence of COVID-19 variants.

But he said the analysis of the team’s tests versus nationwide numbers is in line with overall trends.

He said while the variant’s presence in places like Colombia is worrying, the best way to tell how the strain will perform in Dallas County is to observe trends in places with similar transmission rates.

“The best comparison for Dallas would be a place in the United States that has both Delta and the new variants,” SoRelle said. “And in these situations, the Delta actually overtakes them.”

People should see the presence of the Mu strain as a reason to get vaccinated if they haven’t or as a reason to keep up with booster recommendations if they are introduced towards the end of the month, SoRelle said.

“In this case, you didn’t have that much portability so it won’t spread very much and have immune resistance, but you might have a future one [variant] that works, ”he said. “This is just further evidence that a booster shot when it’s available is a good reason to get a booster shot.”

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