Does it spread more easily? Make people sicker? Does that mean treatments and vaccines don’t work? Questions are multiplying just as quickly as new strains of the coronavirus, especially the one now moving across England. Scientists say there is cause for concern, but the new species should not sound the alarm.
“There is no evidence whatsoever that there is any increase in severity” in COVID-19 of the newest kind, said World Health Organization chief of emergencies, Dr. Michael Ryan Monday.
“We don’t want to overreact,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top infectious disease expert, to CNN.
Concerns have been growing since Saturday, when the British Prime Minister said a new strain, or variant, of the coronavirus appeared to spread more easily than previous ones and swiftly swept across England. Dozens of countries banned flights from the UK and Southern England were placed under strict locking measures.
Here are some questions and answers about what is known about the virus so far.
Q: WHERE DOES THIS NEW TRIBE COME FROM?
A: New variants have been seen almost since the virus was first discovered in China nearly a year ago. Viruses often mutate, or develop small changes, as they reproduce and move through a population – something “that is natural and expected,” the WHO said in a statement Monday.
Most mutations are trivial. It’s the change of one or two letters in the genetic alphabet that doesn’t make much of a difference in the ability to cause disease, ”says Dr. Philip Landrigan, a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist who leads a global health program in Boston. College.
A more concerning situation is when a virus mutates by altering the proteins on its surface to help it escape drugs or the immune system, or when it undergoes many changes that make it very different from previous versions.
Q: HOW DOES ONE STRAIN BECOME DOMINANT?
A: That can happen if one species is a “founder” strain – the first to take hold and start spreading in an area, or because “superspreader” events caused it to settle.
It can also happen if a mutation gives a new variant an advantage, such as spreading more easily than other circulating species, as may be the case in Great Britain.
“It’s more contagious than the original strain,” said Landrigan. “The reason it becomes the dominant species in England is because it outperforms the other species and moves faster and infects more people, so it wins the race.”
Moncef Slaoui, the chief science adviser on the US government’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign, said scientists are still trying to confirm whether the strain is spreading more easily in England. He said it is also possible that the “seeding” of hidden cases “happened in the shadows” before scientists started looking for them.
The strain was first discovered in September, WHO officials said.
Q: WHAT’S THE SAME?
A: It has many mutations – nearly two dozen – and eight are on the spike protein that the virus uses to attach to and infect cells. The peak is what vaccines and antibodies target.
Dr. Ravi Gupta, a virus expert at the University of Cambridge in England, said model studies suggest it is up to twice as contagious as the strain most common in England to date. He and other researchers posted a report of it on a website that scientists use to quickly share developments, but it has not been formally reviewed or published in a journal.
Q: DOES IT MAKE PEOPLE SICK OR MORE CHANCE OF DIE?
A: “There is no indication that either is true, but those are clearly two things we need to keep an eye on,” Landrigan said. As more patients become infected with the new species, “they will know pretty quickly if the new species is making people sicker.”
WHO outbreak expert Maria Van Kerkhove said Monday that “the information we have so far is that there is no change” in the type of disease or severity of the new species.
Q: WHAT DO THE MUTATIONS MEAN FOR TREATMENTS?
A: A few cases in England raise concern that the mutations in some of the emerging new strains could damage the potency of drugs that deliver antibodies to keep the virus from infecting cells.
“Antibody response studies are currently underway. We expect results in the coming days and weeks ”, says Van Kerkhove.
A drugmaker, Eli Lilly, said tests in his lab with strains containing the mutation of most concern suggests the drug remains fully active.
Q: WHAT ABOUT VACCINES?
A: Slaoui said it is suspected that the current vaccines would still be effective against the variant, but scientists are working to confirm that.
“I don’t expect this to be a problem,” he said.
British officials have said “they do not believe there is any impact on the vaccines,” said Van Kerkhove.
Vaccines elicit broad immune system responses, in addition to the fact that the immune system just makes antibodies to the virus, so they are expected to still work, several scientists said.
Q: CAN TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS DO SOMETHING GOOD?
A: Landrigan thinks so.
“If the new species is indeed more contagious than the original one, then it is very, very wise to limit travel,” he said. ‘It will slow things down. Anytime you can break the chain of transmission, you can slow down the virus. “
CNN quoted Fauci as saying he did not criticize other countries for suspending travel to England, but would not advise the United States to take such a step.
The presence or extent of the new species in the United States is unknown at this time.
Q: WHAT CAN I DO TO REDUCE MY RISK?
A: Follow the advice to wear a mask, wash your hands often, keep a social distance, and avoid crowds, say public health experts.
“The bottom line is that we need to suppress the transmission” of all strains of virus that can cause COVID-19, said WHO director general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“The more we let it spread, the more mutations will take place.”
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The Associated Press writers, Christina Larson in Washington and Candice Choi in New York, contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Science Education Department of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.