The world is at the forefront of the emergence of three new strains of COVID-19, each showing signs that it is more dangerous and harmful during an already devastating pandemic.
Scientists are keeping a close eye on new varieties that have emerged in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil – and which have now all reached the USA.
Viruses constantly make copies of themselves as they spread, sometimes creating mutations that become extinct – and other times and evolving into one that gives it an edge.
With these changes, it can resist vaccines and other treatments.
The trio are being watched to see how easily it spreads, whether it is more lethal and whether vaccines and proven treatments are still effective against it.
“Not every mutation is the same,” said Mary Petrone, an expert in infectious diseases at Yale University. “The virus is going to be happy now and then.”
Here’s what we know so far about each new variant:
United Kingdom variant
This variant – also known as B117 – was first detected after an unexpected increase in COVID-19 cases in early December in the UK.
Scientists have sounded the alarm about the new strain because it contains changes to the “spike” protein – the part of the virus that makes it contagious.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson later confirmed that the fears were correct, saying the new variant appeared to be at least 70 percent more communicable.
It was initially not believed that the stress caused worse illness or more death.
But British officials stopped the rate after new research indicated it was linked to slightly more deaths among older adults.
The coronavirus mortality rate among 60-year-olds in the UK was around 10 per 10,000. But with the new tribe, there were about 13 or 14 deaths in the same population, USA Today reports.
The newer variant also appears to be dominated by symptoms other than those associated with the original COVID-19 virus.
According to the survey, released by the UK Office for National Statistics, patients with the strain will suffer more from sore throats, sore muscles and fatigue.
But so far there is no reason to panic about the available COVID-19 vaccines that do not protect against the British strain.
White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci said the vaccines should still be effective, although protection could be a ‘very small decrease’.
“The pillow you have effectively is so large that it has no negative effects,” said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
South African variant
This mutation, known as the 501Y.V2 variant, first shocked experts when it quickly took over as the dominant strain in some regions of South Africa in December.
The tension was more than 90 percent of the new cases in the Eastern Cape province, and then spread to the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
Experts believe it is about 50 percent more contagious, which means it is more efficient at entering human cells.
The variant has a mutation called 484, which experts fear could somehow get antibodies to infect people who were already sick with the virus, USA Today reports.
The mutation may mean that the strain is less susceptible to antibody products or plasma from COVID-19 survivors, helping both people to fight the virus.
Experts are also concerned about how vaccines with the variant will perform.
In a small, preliminary study, the Novavax vaccine was found to be only 49.4 percent effective against the strain, although in general it is 90 percent effective against the virus, the drugmaker said.
The biotechnology firm Moderna is developing a new COVID-19 vaccine enhancer after research showed that the shot’s neutralizing antibody response to the South African variant was six times weaker than that of other strains.
Brazil variant
The Brazilian strain, known as the P.1 variant, was first identified in four travelers tested during a routine search at Haneda Airport outside Tokyo, Japan.
Experts have said that the variant is probably also more contagious than the original strain of the coronavirus, although this has not been definitively proven because it has mutations similar to the British and South African strain.
In some regions of Brazil, however, tensions have risen rapidly, accounting for about half of the new infections in the Amazon city of Manaus in December.
It is unclear whether the variant causes serious illnesses, which will lead to more hospitalizations and deaths.
But there are already concerns that it, like the South African variant, may be resistant to natural immunity – which would dampen hopes of herd immunity.
In Manaus, a 29-year-old woman who contracted the virus in March became infected with the newer variant in December, USA Today reports.
Fauci said experts are already investigating ways to adapt vaccines and treatments to maintain their effectiveness with new strains.
“What we will do and do is make preparations for the possibility that we may need to change and upgrade the vaccines,” Fauci said.
With Post threads