据多家外媒报道，由德尔塔毒株与奥密克戎毒株重组形成的新冠病毒变体德尔塔克戎（Deltacron）已经在美欧多国被发现。
世界卫生组织新冠疫情应对技术负责人玛丽亚·范·克尔克霍夫9日证实了这种变体的存在，称在法国、荷兰和丹麦发现了这种病毒，但表示发现的病例数“非常少”。
The World Health Organization lately confirmed the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant dubbed "deltacron" - a hybrid strain that combines both the delta and omicron variants.
At a press conference Wednesday, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead for COVID-19, said cases have been reported in Denmark, France and the Netherlands, but noted the levels of detection are "very low."
克尔克霍夫同时在社交媒体上表示，出现这种突变并不令人意外，“考虑到奥密克戎和德尔塔毒株的感染量之大，这是意料之中的事。病毒会随着时间而改变。”
In a tweet last week, Van Kerkhove explained the possibility of a delta and omicron recombinant virus should be expected due to "intense circulation" of both variants.
此前，法国马赛地中海传染病医疗和教学研究所研究人员3月8日在医学研究论文预印本网站medRxiv上发表文章称，他们通过基因组测序确认了这一新变体的存在。而且，该变体已在法国多个地区被检测到。
另外，全球流感共享数据库（GISAID）提供的数据显示，丹麦和荷兰也发现了“德尔塔克戎”相关病例。总部位于加利福尼亚州的基因研究公司Helix在美国发现了两例。据英国《卫报》报道，英国已经确认了约30例“德尔塔克戎”病例。而且，据GISAID称，这种新变体可能从1月份就开始在人群中传播了。
This week, Gisaid, a global community of scientists that shares virus information, says the variant has been identified in several regions of France and appears to have been circulating since the start of the year. “Genomes with a similar profile have been also identified in Denmark and the Netherlands,” Gisaid says.
There have also been reports of Deltacron being detected in the US, and about 30 cases have been detected in the UK, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
法国研究人员指出，“德尔塔克戎”这一杂交新变体通过重组产生。所谓重组指一种病毒的两个不同变体同时感染一名患者，会交换遗传物质以产生新的后代。发表于medRxiv的这篇论文指出，“德尔塔克戎”变体的“主干”来自德尔塔变体；而它的刺突蛋白——使病毒能够进入宿主细胞的蛋白则来自奥密克戎变体。
“These recombinants arise when more than one variant infects and replicates in the same person, in the same cells,” says Prof Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick. “Deltacron is a product of both the Delta and Omicron variants circulating in the same population.”
多名科学家指出病毒重组产生新变体并非罕见，德尔塔克戎不是新冠病毒的第一个该类变体，也不会是最后一个。
Experts have been quick to stress that recombinant variants are not uncommon, and that Deltacron is not the first and will not be the last to occur for COVID.
由于病例较少，尚无足够数据表明德尔塔克戎的传染性如何，以及疫苗对其的有效性如何。
With only a small number of cases of Deltacron so far identified, however, there is not yet enough data about the severity of the variant or how well vaccines protect against it.
据外媒报道，多名专家认为目前无需对这一变体过度担忧。世卫组织也没有更改疫情严重程度。针对德尔塔克戎变体的研究仍在进行当中。
No change in severity has been reported, according to WHO, and more studies are underway to learn more about the variant.
编辑：左卓
来源：科技日报 卫报 美国全国广播公司
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