New strain of coronavirus discovered in Nigeria: specialists ask for caution

A new strain of coronavirus, different from the one recently detected in South Africa and England, but who “shares some mutations” along with the latter, it was discovered in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, with 200 million inhabitants.

Following the low-key announcement this week from the African Center of Excellence for Infectious Disease Genomics (Acegid), based in Ede, southwest Nigeria, the African Center for Disease Control (CDC) – the agency Union Health Organization – organized an emergency meeting.

But Professor Christian Happi, molecular biologist who participated in the genetic sequencing of this new variant, asked not to “extrapolate” this discovery, in an interview with AFP.

Acegid analyzed 200 samples of the virus in early December, and two of them, taken from patients on August 3 and October 9, showed genetic mutations.

“We have no idea or certainty whether this variant is directly related to the increase in cases Nigeria is currently seeing,” the professor said.

The country had more than 82,000 registered cases Saturday and 1,246 deaths, figures however relatively low but the number of tests carried out in the country is insignificant, and hundreds of additional cases have been detected every day since the beginning of December compared to the day before.

Thanks to the genetic sequencing of the virus, a very refined screening operation that only 12 laboratories on the African continent can perform, Professor Happi and his team were able to describe the evolution of the mutation.

Unknown origin

“We don’t know where this new variant came from. We think it is independent, which is produced in Nigeria. I don’t think it’s imported, ”said the biologist.

This former Harvard professor, specializing in infectious diseases, however recalled that “viruses mutate and change” of natural form.

“The important thing is not the mutation, but the transformation of the protein peak”, the part of the virus that allows access to the cells of the body, and what would make this mutation infectioushe explained.

Not enough research has been done so far and Acegid is working with the Nigerian Center for Infectious Diseases (NCDC), the national public health body, to try to explain the recent increase in COVID-19 cases and if this could be due to the new strain.

Yet one thing seems to be true: the relatively low death rate in Nigeria compared to Western countries, it hasn’t increased lately.

“I ask people not to extrapolate. There is a tendency to extrapolate with these new variants of the virus,” said the professor. “Nothing proves to us, for example, that the strain found in England would have the same effects in Nigeria “ and vice versa.

“If there’s anything covid-19 taught us, it’s that in everything we thought we knew about this virus, we were wrong,” Happi recalls.

“Some have predicted that a third of Africa’s population will dieBut we cannot apply the research and figures gathered in Europe and the United States and apply them here: we are genetically different, our immune health is different, ”he insisted.

For his part, the director of the African Union CDC, Jhon Nkengasong, asked for “time” while investigating the rate of spread of the new strain in Nigeria, during a video conference from Addis Ababa.

Right now in Africa 2.4 million cases have been recorded of covid-19, or 3.6% of the global total, according to an AFP count. Regarding deaths, more than 57,000 have been confirmed, less than in France (59,072).

The small number of diagnostic tests carried out could cast doubt on the statistics, but it is also true that no country has seen a peak in excess mortality, which would indicate a spread of the virus.

Still, Professor Nkengasong urged the mainland in early December to prepare for a “second wave that will undoubtedly come”.

Source: AFP and EFE

PB