The Lambda variant shares some mutations with other COVID-19 variants that suggest that it is more transmissible than the original strain.
“Most likely it is more transmissible because it is the only way to explain its rapid growth. In Chile and Peru it has continued to advance strongly, while in the province of Buenos Aires it already represents more than 40% of cases,” said Pablo. Tsukayama, coordinator of the Microbial Genomics Laboratory of Peru, to BBC Mundo in June.
“And the mere fact that they are more transmissible translates into more hospitalizations and deaths,” he added.
Because epidemiological surveillance in Latin America is weaker than in other regions of the world, there is not much information about the vaccine yet.
Tsukayama, doctor of microbiology, explained that with the Lambda variant no major changes have been reported compared to those already known with the other mutations but that, based on some anecdotal reports from doctors, there could be a higher frequency of intestinal problems.
Lambda received the nomination as a variant of interest on June 14. Laboratory studies show that it has mutations that resist vaccine-induced antibodies.
Variant Mu, the Colombian variant
The WHO presented this week a new variant of interest. He received Mu, which like the rest of the names of the variants, is a letter of the Greek alphabet.
Mu carries several key mutations, such as E484K, N501Y, and D614G, which have been linked to increased transmissibility and decreased immune protection.
The Mu variant was first detected in Colombia last January, and since then it has been found in other South American countries and Europe.
“Although the global prevalence of the Mu variant among sequenced cases has decreased and is currently less than 0.1%, its prevalence in Colombia (39%) and Ecuador (13%) has steadily increased,” the WHO noted.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control had already listed it as a variant of interest, while the British Ministry of Health describes B.1.621 as an investigational variant.
A PAHO official told Reuters that the transmission of the Mu variant in America remains sporadic and there are still no studies to conclude that it is more contagious than others.
What variants of COVID are there in Mexico?
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) points out that the four variants of concern circulate in Mexico, but to different degrees. On July 14, the WHO office for the Americas indicated that the Gamma variant would become the predominant one in this country.
The PAHO incident manager for COVID-19, Sylvain Aldighieri said at a press conference that it has been detected that 24 variants of the coronavirus are circulating in the country, with Alpha, Gamma and Delta being the ones with the greatest presence in the territory.
According to the information from the last eight weeks, the variant that has been detected with 31% of the sequence is still B.1.1.519, which is being monitored globally, but it has not been classified or classified as VOC , nor as VOI.
“However, it is possible that this variant has been replaced in Mexico in the coming weeks by others such as the Gamma variant, which already reaches 23% of the reported sequences,” he highlighted at the press conference.
“This whole process is a process of expected displacement of the dynamics of the virus.”
Aldighieri assured then that the Delta variant has an even lower proportion, but in Mexico City – the capital and the most populated city in the country – it is already considered the dominant variant.
Oliva López Arellano, Health Secretary of the capital, detailed in a press conference on Saturday, July 17, that this variant is responsible for 65% of recent cases in the city and is the one that has attacked the most younger people.
Variants of COVID and vaccines, are they effective?
The higher transmissibility of the variants and some changes that make the body’s defenses less effective challenge the ability of vaccines to prevent symptomatic infection of the disease.