On January 5, according to several French media reports, on December 9 last year, the Mediterranean Institute for Medical and Pedagogical Research on Infectious Diseases in Marseille, France, said it had discovered a new mutant strain of the new coronavirus, with the strain number B.1.640.2, also known as the "IHU" strain. The strain contains 46 mutation sites and 37 deletions. The strain was first reported in a patient who returned to France from the Congo.
To date, 12 cases of this strain have been identified at the Mediterranean Institute for Medical and Pedagogical Research on Infectious Diseases in Marseille. Due to the small number of samples, it is difficult to assess its infectiousness and risk at this time.
Academician Zhong Nanshan mentioned in a recent interview: the newly emerged new coronavirus variant strain IHU has more variant loci than Omicron, 46, compared to 35 for Omicron, and theoretically it may be more resistant to vaccine immune escape, and to some antibodies. However, there is still a lot that is unknown about the new mutant strain, and it needs to be observed more closely now, one being whether its transmission will become mainstream, and the other being whether its pathogenicity is relatively mild.
Although this mutant strain has not caused widespread transmission, it is important to note that the Omicron strain, which caused widespread transmission some time ago, also did not cause widespread transmission in the early stages of development.
It remains to be seen what kind of threat this new mutant strain will pose to us. All we can do is to be well prepared to face it in the future with a sense of calmness.
So as the strain continues to mutate, will the New Crown Nucleic Acid Rapid Test be able to deal with it with sufficient sensitivity and accuracy?
Due to the small sample size of the strain at present, but based on previous experience, the New Crown Nucleic Acid Rapid Test is still able to detect accurately in the face of the current mutated strain.
Moreover, the main manufacturers of Nucleic Acid Rapid Test reagents in China are investing a lot of manpower and resources to update and iterate the test reagents to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of Nucleic Acid Rapid Test, and the efficient amplification reagents in Nucleic Acid Rapid Test are the focus of the update.
At the juncture of the normal development of the epidemic, the development momentum of the new crown nucleic acid rapid test reagents are changing from fast to faster, accurate to more accurate, two specific loci to multiple specific loci comparison, and also the emergence of multiplex reagents, which also gives us more powerful weapons to deal with variant strains in the future.
