- A coronavirus variant found in Uganda has a similar change to a fast-spreading variant in the UK and US.
- The variant in Uganda, called A.23.1, is “of potential biological importance,” said GISAID.
- The likely impact of his mutations is not yet clear.
In Uganda, a coronavirus variant has been detected that has a mutation similar to the fast-spreading variant in the UK, which has quickly become the most common coronavirus in the Ugandan capital Kampala, a pre-print study reported Thursday.
The newly emerged coronavirus variant has evolved separately from the UK variant, which comes from the “B-lineage” and is called B.1.1.7. The variant in Uganda comes from the “A-line” and is referred to in the study A.23.1.
According to Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Flu Data (GISAID), A.23.1 itself is a lineage with a number of variants of “potential biological concern”, of which the variant in Uganda is an example.
From June to October 2020, viruses of line A were responsible for only 25% of the viruses in Kampala region. By December 2020, 49 of the 50 sequenced samples from the Kampala region belonged to the new A.23.1 line, the authors said.
More than 39,000 Ugandans are known to be infected with COVID-19, and 328 people have died, according to the World Health Organization.
Crucially, the variant in Uganda has genetic changes in the spike protein, the part of the virus that it uses to infect human cells. The authors identified a particular mutation, P681R, which could mean it behaves similarly to the UK variant, B.1.1.7, which has a similar mutation in its spike protein, P681H.
The UK variant is believed to be 30-50% more contagious than the original virus and is spreading rapidly around the world, including in the US, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have predicted it to be the most common variant of coronavirus. by March.
The scientists also identified changes in some of the spike protein that is known to be a target for the immune system.
The paper has not yet been examined by other experts in a peer review, and the likely impact of the variant in Uganda is not yet clear.
A.23.1 variants have been found in other countries as well as Uganda, including the UK, Rwanda, Canada and Cambodia, according to GISAID.
In the UK, A.23.1 is being formally investigated by Public Health England because it has the E484K mutation – the mutation found in the variant in South Africa, which scientists believe helps evade antibodies.
According to Public Health England (PHE), there have been 43 reported cases of A.23.1 in the UK. The A.23.1 variant with E484K differs from the UK variant, B.1.1.7, which also appears to have evolved into an E484K mutation and has been referred to by PHE as a “variant of concern”. According to PHE, there are 22 people in the UK infected with the B.1.1.7 variant that has an E484K mutation.