INDIAN VARIANT. The Indian variant, already present in 17 countries, has made an incursion into France, more precisely in Guadeloupe, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Bouches-du-Rhône. What is this mutation ? Let’s take stock.
Summary Indian variant in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Indian variant in the Bouches-du-Rhône Indian variant in Guadeloupe Indian variant in France The Indian variant facing the “Double mutant” vaccines of Covid Transmission Indian variant Symptoms
[Updated on April 30, 2021 at 15: 24] Cases of Indian variant are multiplying in Europe, among our direct neighbors, especially in Italy, Belgium and Switzerland. In France, this mutation B. 1. 617 made its appearance in Guadeloupe, then in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and in the Bouches-du-Rhône. In all, seven contaminations associated with this double-variant from India were identified. With the approach of the gradual deconfinement, scheduled from 3 May, the spread of this variant worries. If there is still much to learn about this mutation, considered (in part) responsible for the epidemic hecatomb in its country of origin, it is possible that it is more contagious. At the moment, patients who tested positive for this variant “are fine” and do not suffer from any “severe form” of the disease. According to the Agence régionale de santé (ARS) Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the spread of the mutation is “controlled”. Recall that in France, the overwhelming majority of positive cases concern the British variant (more than 80%).
However, suspicions of contamination by this Indian variant have been reported, particularly in Le Havre and Marseille, concerning people who have traveled to the country of the Taj Mahal. “It was said that France had been spared by the Indian variant. Obviously not,” reacted infectiologist Karine Lacombe, head of the infectious diseases department at Saint-Antoine Hospital, on BFM TV. According to the specialist, “even if our borders are more or less closed, they remain relatively porous”. The uncertainty remains around the dangerousness of this mutation : does it lead to more deaths because of its increased severity or because it is more contagious, making it difficult for hospital services ? The World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledges that it does not know. For the time being, the regulator has placed this mutation, detected in at least 17 countries, in the classification “variant of interest” and not “variant of concern”, the second category indicating a more dangerous variant (able, in particular, to evade vaccination immunizations).
Indian variant in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
This Friday, April 30, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Health Agency (ARS) revealed some information on the two cases identified in Lot-et-Garonne. This is a couple, about thirty years old, parents of a small child and domiciled in the Villeneuvois. Not being in school, the child did not test positive, adds The Dispatch. One of the two people infected with the Indian variant had tested positive on 29 April. An isolation protocol was set up and sequencing was performed at the Toulouse Hospital. If it is indeed an Indian variant,” it is not the one that is predominant in India, ” said the ARS. At the regional level, another case was detected in Bordeaux, concerning a person who had returned from India for professional reasons. “This is not a serious case,” said the ARS, while adding that ten cases at risk contacts had been identified in the entourage. The results of the tests, for four of them, are expected for this Monday 3 May.
Indian variant in the Bouches-du-Rhône
The Ministry of Health also announced Thursday, April 29 in the evening the presence of two cases in the Bouches-du-Rhône, “two people arriving from India, unrelated to each other”. These two individuals were ” quarantined immediately upon arrival “and”tested positive at the very beginning of their quarantine on 19 and 27 April respectively”.
Indian variant in Guadeloupe
In addition to the five cases of Indian variant identified in France, two other cases had previously been detected in the West Indies, specifically in Guadeloupe. According to the authorities, two “asymptomatic and in transit” people who arrived on the island on 10 March by private jet tested positive for variant B. 1.617. At the end of their fourteen in the hospital, these people were tested negative, by PCR, and no secondary cases were detected around these confirmed cases, according to the prefecture and the ARS. According to several local media, these cases imported to Overseas are two people from India to the Dominican Republic, in transit in Guadeloupe. So far, in addition to these two people, no other cases of this mutation have been identified on the island.
Is the Indian variant already present in France ?
Detectable in PCR tests, the double mutation of the coronavirus was therefore detected for the first time on French territory this week. Other tests are also underway, confirms the Ministry of Health. “To date, several other suspected infections with variant B. 1.617 have been reported in France in people who have stayed in India. Investigations reinforced by ARS and sample sequencing (…) are ongoing, ” explains the statement issued on Thursday, April 29. A suspect case is in particular followed in Bordeaux according to
