The Omicron variant has a bewildering number of mutations. More than thirty in the Spike protein! This is the key for the virus to enter human cells and the target of vaccines. This large number of mutations led the WHO to classify the variant as “of concern”. But how could this variant have mutated so much?
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[EN VIDÉO] Is collective immunity the solution against Covid? A group of scientists publishes a column in The Lancet, emphasizing the dangerousness of the collective immunity strategy, which consists in letting a part of the less vulnerable population become naturally infected.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the variants follow one another, always more contagious and always more dangerous. The very last, Omicron, which appeared in South Africa, has an abnormally high number of mutations. It may well be that the SARS-CoV-2 finds conditions particularly conducive to mutations in immunocompromised patients, particularly patients with AIDS and not properly treated.
An original hypothesis
Tulio de Oliveira, a South African scientist, put forward an original hypothesis: a person with HIV could be at the origin of theemergence of the variant Omicron in South Africa. Indeed, it has been observed that the virus mutated in people not properly treated for their AIDS and immunocompromised. In particular, a 36-year-old woman with HIV who was immunocompromised came into contact with SARS-CoV-2 and remained carrier of virus for 216 days! A duration this long is not the norm: most patients recover within a few weeks or die.
It is possible that the fact that the SARS-CoV-2 virus persisted for so long in the human body promoted a large number of mutations. Similar observations have been made by doctors in the United States and Europe. The virus was mutated in immunocompromised patients following treatment for Cancer or a immunosuppressive therapy after one graft organ. This is because the longer the virus stays in the patient’s body, the more it replicates and the greater the risk of replication errors. This is where mutations appear and variants are born.
Of course, other hypotheses are possible to explain the appearance of the Omicron variant. The mutations may have appeared very gradually, without being detected, by lack of sequencing. It is also possible that the virus passed through an animal host before being transmitted again to humans.
The fight against immunosuppression should now be incorporated into the fight against SARS-CoV-2.
Fight against SARS-CoV-2… but also against HIV!
If Tulio de Oliveira’s hypothesis is confirmed, it will now be necessary to incorporate the fight against immunosuppression into the fight against SARS-CoV-2. In Africa, the main cause of immunosuppression is HIV.
Sub-Saharan Africa has nearly 8 million people infected with HIV, not properly treated and most of the time not vaccinated against Covid-19. These immunocompromised people are potential incubators of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Remember that only 7% of the African population is vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. It is no longer just a question of giving vaccines to Africa but also preventive treatments Where curative against AIDS. The fight against SARS-CoV-2 must be global to be effective.
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