Why the Delta variant worries the world and puts healthcare systems on alert

The director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, assured that it is considered as “more contagious and resistant to vaccines”.

For her part, Soumya Swaminathan, head of the scientific department of this international organization, said that “it is transmitted twice as much as the Alpha variant” and that, in turn, the latter was 50 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant. original strain. of the coronavirus detected in Wuhan, China.

“It has characteristics that allow it to evade the immune system and is perhaps more elusive than the beta variant, which was the worst so far. Plus, it has the highest transmissibility among those seen so far. Now. It’s a lousy combination. “he added.

Symptoms of the Delta variant are continuous cough, fever, loss or change in smell or taste, headache and throat pain, and runny nose.

Since some of them are more associated with a cold, many people with the Delta variant do not feel very sick and go on with their lives, thus becoming a source of contagion, specialists have warned.

In Argentina, there are 20 confirmed cases in the province of Córdoba and more than 800 people preventively isolated due to close contacts of travelers who brought the variant to the country, while three cases have been detected in Rosario and 22 in the province of Buenos Aires. associated with people who were abroad.

In the city of Buenos Aires, two cases were discovered with no known epidemiological link with travelers.

Health Minister Carla Vizzotti said today that “by no means do we have a predominant traffic” of the Delta and insisted that “it is impossible for the national state to control itself. there is no support in every province, we have to work this together and also with society ”.

Regarding the efficacy of vaccinations against this mutation, WHO reports indicate that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines show a reduction in efficacy when a single dose is applied, but they claim that this is minimal “when the vaccine is administered. directive is received, complete with either of the latter two vaccines and sufficient to neutralize the virus “.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology has ensured that the Sputnik V vaccine is more than “90 percent effective” against the dangerous variant.

And the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said the four coronavirus vaccines approved in the European Union (Pfizer, Moderna, Astrazeneca and Janssen) “protect against all variants, including Delta.”

EMA Director of Clinical Studies Fergus Sweeney explained that the data they have to date is that “two doses of vaccine protect against the Delta variant and that the antibodies of approved vaccines neutralize that variant.”

Regarding the origin of the variants, Humberto Debat, virologist and member of the Argentinian Interagency Project for the Genomics of SARS-CoV-2, explained to Telam that “viruses mutate all the time” and said that “groups of viruses that share a common ancestor and a constellation of mutations are grouped into lineages, and within these, sublineages ”.

“The so-called Delta variant belongs to the B.1.617 line. Delta is the name that the WHO renamed to the B.1.617.2 subline on June 1, while the B.1.617.1 subline was renamed. Kappa, ”he added.

Debat described that “the Delta variant has two mutations which are present in other variants of concern such as the British variant (renamed Alpha by the WHO) and California (renamed Epsilon).

The mutation called L452R – which she shares with Epsilon – has been associated with increased transmissibility, reduced neutralization by certain monoclonal antibodies, and moderate reduction in neutralization in post-vaccination sera.

While the P681R mutation (present in Alpha) could be the cause of greater transmission derived from more efficient entry of the virus into the cell.

Faced with Delta’s expansion, several European countries have reviewed their health strategies, postponed the reopening of planned activities and stepped up vaccination campaigns.

In addition, the slowdown in vaccination in the nations that have advanced the furthest in their campaigns has prompted several governments and companies to impose compulsory vaccination against the coronavirus on the entire population or in a sector, in particular the agents of health or those who develop a task in front of the Public.

Countries where the variant already accounts for over 75% of cases include India, China, Russia, Indonesia, Australia, Bangladesh, Great Britain, South Africa, Australia , Portugal and Israel, according to the WHO.

In the United States there has been “a drastic increase” in this mutation which “already represents 83% of sequenced cases of Covid-19”, according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky. , during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Health last Tuesday.

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