According to local news media, approximately 50 cases of Mu variants of COVID have been detected in a hospital in Texas.
This is the latest variant of what the World Health Organization calls the Variant of Interest (VOI) (WHO), the company updated its VOI list last week and officially named Mu. This variant is also known as B.1.621.
Dr. Wesley Long, a clinical pathologist at Houston Methodist Hospital, told the news media Click2Houston on Monday that after the WHO granted the Mu classification, staff found that “some cases can be traced back to May.”
Mu’s data is still weak on the ground, although experts say it seems to have some Virus advantageAccording to Outbreak.info, hundreds of Mu samples have been sequenced in the United States.
However, health officials say they are more concerned about Furious Delta variant At present, it has stood out among all other variants in the United States, almost becoming the only variant in the country.
say Fox 26 Houston, Dr. Long said that the hospital is “extracting some case data” but added that given the general lack of transmission, they “may not be able to surpass the giants of the Delta variant”. The news media said that the hospital has confirmed that about 50 mu of cases have been reported there.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Data, as of the week of September 4, Mu COVID variants were detected in approximately 0.1% of sequenced COVID samples in the United States.
On the other hand, Delta variants were detected in 98.9% of them. Alpha variants accounted for another 0.1%, and another category listed as “Other” accounted for about 0.7%.
According to CNBC, on Tuesday, WHO COVID expert Maria Van Kerkhove said at a press conference that the prevalence of Mu variants is increasing in some South American countries, but is declining in other parts of the world.
She added that the Delta variant is still the “most worrying” variant for her because of its higher spreadability. At the same time, Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said that the new variants will have to compete with Delta Air Lines as “best in class”.
The American infectious disease expert Ph.D. also made similar comments. Anthony Fauci Last week, who said that although the researchers are “paying attention” to Mu, Not consider Become the current “direct threat.”
COVID variants appear Due to random mutation A virus that occurs wherever it is allowed to spread. Sometimes these mutations are useless or harmful to the virus, and sometimes they make the virus stronger. Not all variants are as powerful or worse than Delta.
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