Lambda Variant of SARS-CoV-2 Poses Threat to the Global Health

Jul, 2021 - By WMR

A study conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Chile School Of Medicine revealed that mutations in the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant may increase the infectivity rate of the virus.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has changed the healthcare structure of countries across the globe. As the pandemic progressed, many new variants of SARS-CoV-2 have emerged continuously, and has been a reason of tremendous crisis for the global population. Variants of interest and variants of concern have been a unique feature of the COVID-19 pandemic. Variants of interest is assumed to be more contagious in comparison to the original strain of the virus. It is alarming as variants of interest have the potential to escape the vaccine protection or at times can cause more severe diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated SARS-CoV-2 lineage C.37 as a variant of interest on June 24, 2021. The WHO has denominated this variant of interest as the Lambda variant. In this context, it is important to mention that over 20 countries, specially Latin American countries such as Chile, Peru, Argentina, and others have reported about the presence of this variant.

The researchers studied the patient samples acquired between May and June 2021 from two healthcare institutions in Santiago, Chile. These patients received two doses of CoronaVac vaccine, which was administered 28 days apart as per Chilean vaccination program. The researchers studied the impact of the Lambda variant on the virus vaccine CoronaVac.

The findings of the study show that the variant of interest mediated by the Lambda spike glycoprotein have higher infectivity potential in comparison to the Alpha and Gamma variants. Thus, in a nutshell, the mutations in the spike glycoprotein is a matter of concern owing to increasing infection rate, which enables the immune escape of this specific lineage from neutralizing antibodies obtained by CoronaVac.