Researchers are investigating whether a homemade variant of the coronavirus that spreads faster than any other species in California could be behind the state’s recent surge of infections in the state.
The Los Angeles Times reported two independent research groups found that the new strain, named B.1.426, while looking for signs that a more transmissible strain first identified in the UK was spreading throughout the Golden State.
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A single case of the strain was found in July, but it was only rediscovered three months later. Although the tension was barely noticeable in October, it began to appear more and more in the next few months.
According to the newspaper, researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles have discovered that the strain makes up 24 percent of approximately 4,500 viral samples collected in the last weeks of December in California.
In a separate study, researchers found that 25 percent of the 332 samples taken from late November to December were from strain B.1.426.
“There was a homemade variant under our noses,” Charles Chiu, a laboratory medicine specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told The Los Angeles Times.
Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said the strain has five mutations, including the L342R mutation, which changes the ear protein of the virus, which it uses to infiltrate human cells.
California’s death toll doubled in less than three months during the holiday season. The state has confirm more than 3.1 million COVID-19 cases and 36,790 deaths.
While researchers suspect that the new strain has played a role in the recent increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in California, it is unclear to what extent it has exacerbated the outbreak, as other factors such as colder weather, holiday gatherings, travel and a disregard for public health measures. definitely played a role.
“It probably helped accelerate the number of cases during the holidays,” Eric Vail, a pathologist at Cedars Sinai, told the outlet.
“But human behavior is the predominant factor in the spread of a virus, and the fact that it happened when the weather got colder and during the holidays when people gather is not an accident,” he said.
Researchers say they continue to investigate the transmissibility of the strain.
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