[ad_1]
A variant of the coronavirus recently identified as a “variant of interest” was detected in 167 people over the summer in Los Angeles County, officials said.
The variant now known as Mu was mainly detected in July, according to scans carried out between June 19 and August 21, the public health ministry said.
Named after the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet, Mu was declared by the World Health Organization as a “variant of interest” on August 30 and was first identified in January in Colombia, a indicated the department. Mu, also known as B.1.621, has since been reported in 39 countries.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, did not label Mu as a variant of interest.
The Variants of Interest are not viewed as a potential threat as much as the so-called “Variants of Concern,” which include Delta. Delta is now estimated to comprise over 99% of the variants circulating in the United States. The Delta variant replaced Alpha as the most dominant strain in the country at the start of the summer.
Dr Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser on the pandemic, said Mu is important to watch, even though he’s rarely seen in the United States.
“We are paying attention,” Fauci said at a press briefing last week. “But we don’t see this as an immediate threat at this time.”
Mu is different from another variant known as C.1.2, which was recently identified in South Africa. The World Health Organization, however, did not place C.1.2 on its list of variants of interest or concern.
Another variant, Lambda, has also gained attention recently after being labeled a variant of interest by the World Health Organization in June. Lambda, first documented in Peru in December, is worth watching, some scientists say, as it has spread widely in South America.
The CDC, however, has not labeled Lambda as a variant of interest.
Dr Ashish Jha, Dean of Brown University School of Public Health, tweeted that he doubted that Mu, Lambda or C.1.2 will replace Delta as the dominant variant in the country.
“I’m not losing sleep over new variants,” Jha wrote. “I’m worried about how tired people are with the current one.”
Times editor Amina Khan contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link