Virus World

A coronavirus variant known as "lambda" is gaining the attention of health officials as it spreads around the world. The variant, also known as C.37, was first detected in Peru in August 2020, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). On June 14, the agency designated C.37 a global "variant of interest," or VOI, and named it lambda. VOI means the variant is increasingly showing up in communities and has mutations that are predicted to have some effect on viral characteristics, such as increased transmissibility. In contrast, officials use the term "variant of concern," or VOC, once reliable data shows that the variant has increased transmissibility — such as what's been seen with the delta variant — or other worrying features. So far, lambda has been detected in 29 countries, with high levels of spread in South American countries. In recent months, the lambda variant was detected in 81% of COVID-19 cases in Peru that underwent genetic sequencing, according to the WHO. And in Chile, the variant was detected in about one-third of cases, the WHO said. 

Most recently, the variant popped up in the United Kingdom. On June 25, Public Health England reported six cases of the lambda variant, all of which were tied to overseas travel. Officials are monitoring the lambda variant because it carries a number of mutations that could potentially aid its spread. The variant has seven mutations in the virus's "spike protein" compared with the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 detected in Wuhan, China. Some of these mutations have the potential to increase transmissibility of the virus or to reduce the ability of certain antibodies to neutralize, or inactivate, the virus, according to the WHO. For example, lambda has a mutation known as F490S located in the spike protein's receptor-binding domain (RBD), where the virus first docks onto human cells. A paper published in the July issue of the journal Genomics identified F490S as a likely "vaccine escape mutation" that could both make the virus more infectious and disrupt the ability of vaccine-generated antibodies to recognize the variant.  Still, these effects are theoretical at this point. "There is currently no evidence that this variant causes more severe disease or renders the vaccines currently deployed any less effective," according to Public Health England. More studies are needed to see if these mutations really do affect how the virus behaves.

Peru will start testing coronavirus vaccines from China's Sinopharm and U.S. drugmaker Johnson & Johnson in September, researchers said, which should help the country gain faster access to inoculations once the vaccines are approved. Sinopharm began this week to recruit up to 6,000 volunteers in Peru, which Reuters data indicates has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in relation to its population size. A team of Chinese scientists is expected to arrive in the Andean nation next week to work with local researchers, said Germán Málaga, a doctor and lead vaccine investigator at Lima’s Cayetano Heredia University.  “This is going to happen around Sept. 3, to begin vaccinations on Sept. 8,” he said. Sinopharm’s clinical trials in Peru are being done with Cayetano Heredia and the state-run Universidad Mayor de San Marcos.

Peru has recorded around 622,000 cases of the coronavirus, the fifth highest case load in the world, and 28,277 deaths. It now has the world’s deadliest fatality rate per capita, with 86.67 deaths per 100,000 people, a Reuters tally shows, just ahead of Belgium.  Sinopharm will also do clinical coronavirus vaccine trials elsewhere in Latin America, including in Argentina. Other Chinese laboratories that will be conducting trials in the region include Sinovac Biotech, which will work in Brazil and Chile, and Walvax Biotechnology Co Ltd and CanSino Biologics Inc, which will test in Mexico, authorities have said. Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit will start tests with some 4,000 volunteers in Peru around Sept. 24, Prime Minister Walter Martos told reporters on Thursday.  “We are contacting other companies, laboratories, from Britain and other countries that are going to help us immunize at least 70% of the local population,” Martos said. J&J said earlier this week that it would conduct Phase III trials for its vaccine in Chile, Argentina and Peru.