Seven new coronavirus variants have surfaced in the US since last summer, according to a new study, and scientists are concerned they may be more contagious.
The new variants – each named after a bird – are detailed in a 25-page medical study published online Sunday that has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The variants are similar in that they each mutate the 677th amino acid of the coronavirus, found at the “peak” that the virus uses to attach to healthy cells, raising fears that the changes could make them more contagious.
“This portion of Spike is important because of its proximity to a region that is key to virulence,” Vaughn Cooper, one of the study’s senior authors and director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine, told me. CNN.
The mutations have been found by scientists across the country who performed genetic sequencing on positive COVID-19 tests.
They are:
- “Robin 1,” which “is found in more than 30 US states, but is predominant in the Midwest,” the study said. It was first discovered in August.
- “Robin 2”, which was first found in a sample collected in Alabama in early October. Accordingly, it is most common in the southeast.
- “Pelican”, which was first discovered in Oregon in late October. However, it has been found in 12 other states and is the only variant of the seven discovered abroad so far, showing up during tests in Australia, Denmark, India and Switzerland.
- “Yellowhammer”, which, like “Robin 2”, is most common in the southeastern US. It first appeared in a late November sample.
- “Bluebird”, which first appeared in August and is most common in the Northeast.
- “Quail”, which is most common in opposite corners of the US, the Northeast and the Southwest. It was first discovered in early October.
- First found in late November, “Mockingbird” is common in the South and Central US, as well as along the East Coast.
However, an overwhelming majority of positive coronavirus samples are never genetically sequenced, so it’s unclear how widespread the variants actually are and where they came from.
“I would be quite hesitant at this point to provide an origin location for any of these lines,” Emma Hodcroft, another co-author of the study and an epidemiologist at the University of Bern, told the New York Times.
Also, it is impossible at this point to say whether the mutations are, in fact, more virulent – as the available data is insufficient to determine whether they have really accelerated, or simply benefited from conditions conducive to infection, such as a carrier offering a superspreader event.
Other international variants – most notably the British species, which has been detected in the United States, including in New York – have been found to be significantly more contagious than the garden variety coronavirus, complicating efforts to destroy the deadly bug for good.