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Hossain MJ, Rabaan AA, Mutair AA, Alhumaid S, Emran TB, Saikumar G, Mitra S, Dhama K. Strategies to tackle SARS-CoV-2 Mu, a newly classified variant of interest likely to resist currently available COVID-19 vaccines. Hum Vaccin Immunother 2022; 18:2027197. [PMID: 35172687 PMCID: PMC8862164 DOI: 10.1080/21645515.2022.2027197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Revised: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Several severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants have recently been reported in many countries. These have exacerbated the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced global health threats and hindered COVID-19 vaccine development and therapeutic progress. This commentary discusses the potential risk of the newly classified Mu variant of interest, seeming a highly vaccine-resistant variant, and the approaches that can be adopted to tackle this variant based on the available evidence. The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.621 (Mu variant) lineage has shown approximately ten times higher resistance to neutralizing sera obtained from COVID-19 survivors or BNT161b2-vaccinated people than the parenteral B.1 lineage. Several urgent and long-term strategic plans, including quick genomic surveillance for uncovering the genetic characteristics of the variants, equitable global mass vaccination, booster dose administration if required, and strict implementation of public health measures or non-pharmaceutical interventions, must be undertaken concertedly to restrict further infections, mutations, or recombination of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its deadly strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Md Jamal Hossain
- Department of Pharmacy, State University of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Ali A Rabaan
- Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Public Health and Nutrition, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Pakistan
- College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Abbas Al Mutair
- Research Center, Almoosa Specialist Hospital, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia
- College of Nursing, Princess Norah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- School of Nursing, Wollongong University, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Saad Alhumaid
- Administration of Pharmaceutical Care, Al-Ahsa Health Cluster, Ministry of Health, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia
| | - Talha Bin Emran
- Department of Pharmacy, BGC Trust University Bangladesh, Chittagong, Bangladesh
| | - G Saikumar
- Division of Pathology, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, India
| | - Saikat Mitra
- Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Kuldeep Dhama
- Division of Pathology, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, India
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