More cases of delta variant with mutation detected in Sweden

Ten more cases of the delta variant with a mutation have been discovered in Sweden, Dagens Medicin reports.

In Uppsala, where the variant was first detected, more cases are expected to be found.

– We now have four chains of infection that we are working with and we expect confirmed cases to double soon, Mats Martinel of the Infection Tracking Unit in Uppsala tells the newspaper.

The mutation, which has been named E484Q and is a sub-variant of the delta variant of the coronavirus, was identified earlier in August in Uppsala. This was the first time it was discovered in Sweden.

Swedish Public Health Agency writes in another email medicine today Ten more cases were identified during the month of August.

As in Uppsala, in most positive cases it concerns people who have gone to another country.

“The stay was in several different countries,” the Swedish Public Health Agency wrote in the email.

More injured in Uppsala

In Uppsala, they are also working intensively to trace the infection after the first discovery, when eight cases were found. That number has risen to 13 confirmed cases, and is expected to increase, according to Mats Martinel, medical advisor to the Uppsala sampling and infection tracking unit.

“We now have four chains of infection that we are working with and we expect the confirmed cases to double soon, because we are waiting for an answer on the other 13 people as we strongly suspect it’s the same mutation,” he said. newspaper.

The infection is not clear

It remains unclear how contagious the mutation is, but two of the first eight infected people have been fully vaccinated. None of them required hospital care.

Farshid Jalalvand, a microbiologist at Lund University, previously told Aftonbladet that he doesn’t think one should be too concerned that the new mutation could also infect those who have been fully vaccinated, a so-called superinfection.

– All variables can be fully immunized. This delta-specific variant appears to be slightly better at causing such a superinfection.

E484Q was first found in the United States six months ago. About 400 cases of sub-variables have been identified worldwide.