Two soon-to-be studies are raising concerns about a new coronavirus variant that scientists in California are watching.
They suggest that the variant is not only more contagious but can cause more serious illness. The research is in its infancy, has not yet been published or peer-reviewed, and needs more work, the researchers emphasized.
A team from the University of California, San Francisco, tested virus samples from recent outbreaks in California and found it to be much more common. It was not seen in samples from September, but was found in half of the samples at the end of January.
This variant, which the team calls B.1.427 / B.1.429, has a different mutation pattern than the variants first seen in the UK called B.1.1.7 and in South Africa called B.1.351. One mutation, called L452R, affects the virus’s spike protein, the bit that attaches to cells that the virus infects.
“A specific mutation, the L452R mutation, in the receptor binding domain of the spike protein, may allow the virus to couple to cells more efficiently. Our data shows that this is probably the main mutation that makes this variant more contagious, ”said Dr. Charles Chiu, associate director of the clinical microbiology laboratory at UCSF, who led one of the studies, at CNN.
And they found some evidence that it is more dangerous.
“In this study, we observed an increased disease severity associated with a B.1.427 / B.1.429 infection, including an increased risk of high oxygen demand,” they wrote in their report, which was published later this week in a preprint server will be placed after health officials in San Francisco review it.
Chiu said it should be classified as a form of care and identified as a priority for study.
A second team at Unidos and Salud, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that offers rapid testing in San Francisco’s Mission District, tested 8,846 people in January and sequenced 630 of the samples. They also found a rapid increase in the variant.
“The study results indicate that the L452R variant represents 53% of positive test samples collected between January 10-27. That’s a significant increase from November when our sequencing indicated that this variant accounted for only 16% of positive tests, ”said Dr. Diane Havlir, an infectious disease expert at UCSF who is helping to lead the study, in a statement. statement.
Havlir’s team is also preparing their findings for publication.