COVID-19: Andean variant should be considered of regional interest, experts from PAÍS project

The PAIS project considers that the C.37 line (Andean variant) should be considered at least as a “variant of regional interest”. given the sustained increase in its frequency of detection in the AMBA region in recent epidemiological weeks, as has also been observed in countries in the region such as Peru and Chile, as reported today in a communicated.

So far, the World Health Organization considers that there are four variants of the coronavirus of concern for its greater transmission capacity and to affect more people around the world. But in South America the presence of another variant has increased markedly over the past two months, which bears the technical name “C.37” but is popularly known as the “Andean variant”. It has already been detected in samples from COVID-19 patients from 19 countries, including Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Spain, Germany and the United States.

The PAIS Project Consortium –created from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation- published the latest report (Report No. 23) on the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants which identified the combination of mutations compatible with the C.37 line or “Andean variant”(S_L452Q, S_F490S and nucleotide change synonym c2169t) in a total of 127 cases.

Of these, 50 cases are from CABA, 56 cases from GBA (five from North GBA, 19 from West GBA and 32 from South GBA), four from inside PBA. In addition, two cases corresponded to the province of Entre Ríos, six cases to the province of Neuquén and seven cases to the province of Córdoba. All these cases correspond to infections of individuals without a history of travel abroad or of close contact with travelers, with the exception of two cases from the province of Cordoba which presented with a history of travel to Mexico and the Republic. Dominican.

“It is very important to note that an increase in the frequency of detection of Gamma variants (P.1, Manaus) and from line C.37 (Andean) and a stabilization of the frequency of the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7, United Kingdom) in AMBA during the last epidemiological weeks in cases not epidemiologically linked to tourism abroad ”.

So far, out of a total of 2,238 samples analyzed as part of active surveillance by sequencing of Peak or the entire genome, the most detected variants were the C.37 line (Andean variant) in 412 cases and the Gamma variant (P.1, Manaus) in 398 cases, in particular in the last SE analyzed.

In telephone dialogue with Infobae, one of the researchers who postulated C.37 as a variant, Pablo Tsukayama, from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, recounted the details of the detective tracking they are performing. Already last March, the “Andean variant” was found in more than 40% of patient samples in Lima.

“It is possible that this variant appeared in South America, due to the frequency that it already has unlike other regions of the world”, noted Dr Tsukayama, a specialist in microbial genomics. It has already been detected in the United States, but it is present in 1% of patient samples studied in that country.

It was called the “Andean variant” because its detection was first reported in Chile and Peru., but there was a file from the ANLIS / Malbrán Institute of Argentina from November 8 of last year which mentioned C.37. At that time it was considered “B.1.1.1”. The second report of the variant was from Peru on December 22. It was the Tsukayama group who proposed it as a new variant.

Tsukayama clarified that he did not want to call it the ‘Andean variant’ because ‘it implies assuming that the evolution of variants is the responsibility of a country or a city, and fuels unnecessary nationalisms in response. to a global challenge such as the pandemic. ” But he argued that the frequent presence of the C.37 variant deserves more attention.

“Due to the lack of budget and logistics, most of the samples sequenced in Peru come from Lima. They say we will increase the ability to study 10 times. More tracing should be done as there could be under-registration not only in Peru but in other countries in the region “. In South America, only a 0.1% sequence of samples from patients with confirmed cases worldwide is sequenced.

“The Andean variant is a line which circulates strongly in Chile, Peru and Argentina”, Warned Dr Mariana Viegas, of the Ricardo Gutiérrez Children’s Hospital in Buenos Aires and coordinator of the national project, which deals with the genomic surveillance of the coronavirus and depends on the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. “It is already well documented that the variant co-circulates with the Manaus variant in the city of Buenos Aires and Conurbano. Sometimes it runs in tandem. In others, even in a higher proportion than that of the Manaus variant. We follow him closely“, Viegas commented at the request of Infobae.

Although the Andean variant has still not been classified as “of concern” or as “of interest” by the WHO, “He has a mutation, 452Q, which caught our attention when we started to detect him last February,” admitted Dr Viegas.

In addition, another of the scientists who are part of Proyecto País, the biologist Humberto Dibat, highlighted Infobae What the emergence of the “Andean variant” coincided with the development of large outbreaks in Peru. Debat, who is a professor at the Faculty of Exact Physical and Natural Sciences of the National University of Cordoba and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), “the Andean variant is already present in 27% of patient samples in Chile. , and in 48% of AMBA samples in Argentina. In other Argentine provinces, it is also growing ”.

The mere fact that this variant has displaced others and is detected so frequently today – stressed Dr Debat – “is sufficient to be considered a concern regardless of whether an international body classifies it or not as such “.

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