A more contagious form of the coronavirus confirmed in three US states may have been in the country since October, according to a new report.
Researchers say a US-identified mutation of the virus appears to be similar to the B117 variant of the bug – the so-called “British variant” – which may even have originated in America, the Guardian said in a report.
The more easily transmitted strain has been diagnosed in patients in California, Colorado and Florida as of Friday, the paper said.
“It wouldn’t be at all surprising if at least some of the cases were B117,” said researcher Eric Topol, chief of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California.
“It’s probably been at low levels here for a while, but you don’t see it until you look for it,” Topol said.
British officials announced the existence of a variant of the global pandemic on December 14, prompting at least 17 countries to announce travel bans from the UK.
On Thursday, Florida became the third US state to identify a similar variant: California and Colorado, which reported cases earlier this week.
The discovery prompted scientists at the California DNA testing company Helix to review 2 million COVID-19 tests, which showed that a similar gene pattern to the mutated virus had existed in some samples since October, the Guardian said.
Helix is now working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine the degree of presence of the variant in the country.
“If we see the (B117 variant), we may be able to see if it has been introduced one or more times in the US, or if it has further mutated,” said Nicole Washington, associate director of research at Helix.
“If all the monsters have it, it’s probably been here for a while,” she said. “But if there are only one or two examples, then it may have just been introduced and we are just beginning to spread.”
The scientist said there is also a possibility – although unlikely – that the variant originated in the US and not Britain.