Delta plus: New Covid-19 variant identified, experts say no cause of concern for now

The highly transmissible Delta variant of SARSCoV2 has mutated further to form the Delta plus or AY1 variant but there is no immediate cause for concern in India as its incidence in the country is still low scientists here saidThe new Delta plus variant has been formed due to a mutation in the Delta or B16172 variant first identified in India and one of the drivers of the deadly second wave Though there is no indication yet of the severity of the disease due to the new variant Delta plus is resistant to the monoclonal antibody cocktail treatment for Covid19 recently authorised in IndialdquoOne of the emerging variants is B161721 also known as AY1 characterized by the acquisition of K417N mutationrdquo Vinod Scaria clinician and scientist at Delhis CSIRInstitute of Genomics and Integrative Biology IGIB tweeted on SundayAlso Read Large study finds Novavax Covid19 vaccine shot about 90 per cent effectiveThe mutation he said is in the spike protein of SARSCOV2 which helps the virus enter and infect the human cellsAccording to Public Health England 63 genomes of Delta B16172 with the new K417N mutation have been identified so far on the global science initiative GISAIDIn its latest report on coronavirus variants updated till last Friday the health agency said Delta plus was present in six genomes from India as of June 7ldquoThe variant frequency for K417N is not much in India at this point in time The sequences are mostly from Europe Asia and Americardquo Scaria wrote on TwitterThe earliest sequence of this genome was found in Europe in late March this yearNoting that the travel histories for the variant are not readily available to make assumptions Scaria said an important point to consider regarding K417N is the ldquoevidence suggesting resistance to monoclonal antibodies Casirivimab and ImdevimabrdquoThis cocktail recently received emergencyuse authorization in the country from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation Drug majors Roche India and Ciplas have priced the antibody cocktail at a steep Rs 59750 per doseSimilar to antibodies which are proteins that the body naturally produces to defend itself against the disease monoclonal antibodies are artificially created in a lab and tailormade to fight the disease they treatCasirivimab and Imdevimab are monoclonal antibodies that are specifically directed against the spike protein of SARSCoV2 and designed to block the viruss attachment and entry into human cellsScaria also indicated the mutation may be associated with the ability to escape the immune response against the virusAllaying fears immunologist Vineeta Bal noted that while there may be some setback in the use of commercial antibody cocktail due to the new variant resistance to the therapy is not an indication of higher virulence or severity of a diseaseldquoHow transmissible this new variant is will be a crucial factor to determine its rapid spread or otherwiserdquo Bal guest faculty at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune told PTIShe also noted that the quality and quantity of neutralising antibodies responsible for defending cells from pathogens generated in the individual infected with the new variant is unlikely to be affected because of the mutationldquoThus in individuals catching infection with the new variant it may not be a matter worth worryingrdquo she addedPulmonologist and medical researcher Anurag Agrawal concurredldquoThere is no cause of concern due to the new variant in India as of nowrdquo Agrawal the director of CSIRIGIB told PTIThe scientist said the blood plasma from many fully vaccinated individuals will have to be tested against this variant to determine whether it shows any significant immune escapeAs the Delta variant continues to evolve and acquire new mutations there is a lot of interest in understanding its evolution He said SARSCoV2 has a nearly constant rate of acquiring genetic variants and each variant has acquired additional variants in a stepwise fashionldquoUnderstanding this continued evolution is of great importance in mapping the evolutionary landscape of emerging variants Largely the virus has tried to optimise for transmission and immune escape by stepwise acquisition of new mutationsrdquo he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever