The World Health Organization (WHO) rated last june 14 the so-called COVID-19 mutation Lambda as a variant of interest. This means that it has changes in its genome that can affect transmission of the virus, the severity of the disease or symptoms, and its ability to escape the immune system.
Above the variants of interest are the worrying variants, which according to the WHO cause a decreased effectiveness of social and public health measures, plus a increased transmission and increased virulence. Among these variants we find the Delta, which is already the dominant strain in Spain.
Lambda variant
The first documented samples of the Lambda mutation occurred in December 2020 in Peru. According to a study by the Cayetano Heredia University of Lima, in April 2021 this variant already presented 97% of Peruvian public genomes. Also known as the Andean strain, experts are beginning to compare it with the Delta variant, as it could be just as contagious and avoid the effect of vaccines. The WHO has already announced that it would be appropriate to “study it further”.
According to the Cayetano Heredia University study, Lambda presents seven mutations in the spike protein, a fundamental part for the transmission of the virus between humans. Another study, collected by ABC and led by Ricardo Soto-Rifo, a virologist at the University of Chile, and Nathaniel Landau, a microbiologist at the Grossman School of Medicine of the University of New York, points out a “Increased infectivity mediated by Spike protein” of the Lambda variant, which makes it more worrisome than Alpha and Gamma and its transmission would be greater relative to the common strain
Vaccine resistance
Regarding vaccines, in the absence of scientific confirmation, the Peruvian strain shows strong resistance to them, especially to the china, one of the most administered injections in Latin America. In relation to the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, the Andean strain it seems to be less resistant than the Chinese vaccine.
Currently, the Lambda variant is spread throughout Chile and Argentina, and there is even evidence of transmission in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, the United States, Germany and Israel. In Spain, the Ministry of Health has detected a presence of the Andean strain less than 1%, although some outbreaks have been reported in Cantabria with more than 90 cases.
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