As variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 have appeared over the past several months, scientists have sought to understand how they come to be. Some have been looking into the role that individuals with compromised immune systems may play in spurring the mutations of the virus that create new variants.
Who is the Omicron variant’s patient zero? Detected for the first time in South Africa, the variant formally known as B.1.1.529 sparked immediate concern in the international community. Indeed, Omicron’s unprecedented number of mutations – more than 30 compared with the original strain of this coronavirus – present two potential threats: that it could be particularly contagious and that it might prove resistant to existing vaccines.
While governments around the world have set out to bolster restrictions to stem Omicron’s spread, scientists have set about tracing the origins of the “super mutant” variant to understand how it came into being.
Among the theories put forward, some researchers are looking at mutations that appeared in one infected patient with a compromised immune system. Over the course of several months, they have studied the effect of a possible link between the emergence of variants of the highest concern and immune systems weakened in patients who are, for example, suffering from cancer, waiting for an organ transplant or living with untreated HIV.
“When a patient is immune-compromised, the virus will remain in their system for a very long time, sometimes several months, compared to just a few days in the average person,” Morgane Bomsel, a virologist at the CNRS and the Cochin Institute in Paris, told FRANCE 24. “His immune defence system is too weak and he can’t manage to rid himself of the virus.”
Selection pressure
According to a study published last month in the journal Nature Communications, a 58-year-old man with a history of kidney disease and under…
Source : france24
