Three cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil and considered more easily transmissible have been found in Nevada, at least one of which is in Clark County.
The first case in the condition of the variant known as P.1 was detected in Clark County late last month, said Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory at the School of Medicine at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Two more cases were found this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in samples of positive COVID-19 tests presented by private laboratories. Information on these matters, such as the provinces where they originated, was not immediately available.
Representatives from the Southern Nevada Health District did not respond to a request for comment late Friday afternoon. Scott Oxarart, the representative of Washoe County, the public health agency in Nevada’s most populous province in northern Nevada, did not report any cases of the Brazilian variant.
The state’s first case was in a 26-year-old man living in Clark County, according to a report from a representative of the Nevada Department of Human Services, who made no further comment.
The development comes when the Los Angeles County Department of Health on Wednesday announced its first cases of both the Brazilian variant and a separate strain, first identified in South Africa, known as B.1.351. In Nevada, the first and only known case of the South African variant was identified by the State Public Health Laboratory in mid-February. The case concerns a man who was tested in Reno, who recently traveled to the country.
The health authorities of Washoe County quickly notified the individual of the close contact of their potential exposure, which enabled them to obtain self-quarantine and test the disease, measures that can stop the spread of diseases.
These new strains – which scientists call sex lines – are created by mutations that occur as a virus spreads. According to Pandori, there are about 50 species circulating in Nevada, most of which pose no greater threat than the original tribe. However, both P.1 and B.351 have been called ‘variants of concern’ by the CDC. This means that there is early evidence that it can spread more easily, cause serious diseases or reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.
More than 400 cases of the Brazilian variant have been reported in the United States, although many are more likely to be present but unnoticed; only a small percentage of positive COVID-19 tests undergo genetic analysis in a laboratory.
Massachusetts leads the country with 102 reported P.1 cases, followed by Illinois with 93 cases, Florida with 87 cases and California with 39, according to the CDC website. The website, which was last updated on Thursday, does not yet show any cases in Nevada.
The most common strain of coronavirus currently circulating in both the US and Nevada is one first known in the UK as B.1.1.7., Which scientists say is more contagious but not resistant to vaccine. There are nearly 20,000 confirmed cases across the country in all 50 states.
US public health officials are calling for more people to be vaccinated to prevent an increase in infections such as those in parts of Europe where vaccination rates are low.
Contact Mary Hynes at [email protected]. Follow @ MaryHynes1 on Twitter.