Everything You Need to Know About Mu Variant: Is it More Dangerous Than Delta?

It was merely over a year yet when Delta, a highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 virus strain had first been identified in India in December 2020, which swept across the country and Great Britain and now a leading variant in the U.S.

Just before the battle with Delta had come to an end, a new COVID-19 strain called Mu has emerged, and one might ask how the variant come to be and 'is it more dangerous than Delta?'

Nothing is more real than the global health crisis that took its toll on the economy and different industries around the world. In recent months, new cases and deaths happen worldwide. Just hearing the words 'new variant' will surely make you feel all kind of things but hopeful.

Sam Fazeli, a Bloomberg Opinion contributor sheds light on emergence of this new variant and its potential danger:

The mu variant is not as "fit" as delta

Being 'fit' is a virus' ability to infect, copy itself and spread. Fortunately, "mu variant is not as "fit" as delta, with the latter squeezing all other variants out," said Fazeli.

"The mu variant is the dominant one in Colombia, where it displaced the gamma variant. Even though assessing virus variants in Colombia is hard given the low number of genomic sequences analyzed, there has been an increase more recently in the delta variant there."

Nevertheless, "virus versus host is a constant battle." But just like the virus that mutates, our body's immune system is also evolving its antibodies to recognize new mutants or variants. Fazeli noted that what makes the delta variant much more infectious than other variants is key mutation in its 'spike' protein.

"So it's clearly not just about this one mutation, given that delta has so far taken over wherever it has been introduced. And delta's ability to infect more quickly and multiply faster than other variants also affects its ability to infect vaccinated people."

New variants and its resistance to vaccine

As of the moment, the world needs more genomic sequencing such as the U.K. and Denmark. "It's also about how quickly they are reported."

It was also frequently disputed if virus also becomes more evasive, as antibiotics can do for bacteria. "I hear this often, and it makes me cringe. The situation with vaccines is much different when compared with antibiotics," said Fazeli. "Even though immune-evading viral variants have developed and will continue to develop, the situation is not analogous to antibiotic resistance. And you can boost immunity with additional shots of vaccine.

It's safe to say that Mu can still potentially infect people who are vaccinated just as delta can, but "Remember, vaccines are not designed to prevent infections, they are intended to prevent disease. So as long as our vaccine-induced immunity is able to prevent severe disease, hospitalization and death, then we are mostly fine."