A medical worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) places a Covid-19 test tube in a box at a transit test site at the Alemany Farmers Market in San Francisco, California, November 19, 2020.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Stanford University researchers have identified five new cases of a “double mutant” Covid-19 strain recently discovered in the San Francisco Bay Area. Doctors suspect it may be more contagious and resistant to existing vaccines.
The new variant has its origins in India, where the recent 55% increase in the Maharashtra country, home of Mumbai, is attributed to months of decline in cases.
It contains two key mutations, which scientists call E484Q and L452R, which have been found separately in other variants but not together in a single strain, according to dr. Benjamin Pinsky, medical director of Stanford’s clinical virology lab, introducing the new variant in the US
“There is a decent amount of information on how these mutations behave on their own in viruses, but not in combination,” Pinsky said in an interview.
In other variants, the L452R mutation has been shown to make the virus more transmissible. There is also evidence that antibodies do not recognize the mutation, which has been found in other strains to reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.
The E484Q mutation is also less susceptible to neutralizing antibodies, which help fight the coronavirus. It is still too early to know if the mutation makes the virus more contagious by the mutation.
“But you would expect that in combination with L452R it could be an increase in transmission as well as a reduction in antibody neutralization,” Pinsky said.
If the mutation makes the virus more resistant to antibodies, it could reduce the effectiveness of both vaccines, as well as antibody treatments that, according to Pinsky, have become an important tool for doctors in the fight against Covid-19.
“I suspect existing vaccines will be slightly less effective in preventing infection by this new variant,” he said, “but all of the vaccines are extremely effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths.”
Eli Lilly’s antibody treatment with bamlanivimab has been shown to be less effective in treating strains containing the E484Q or L452R mutations. U.S. health regulators halted the spread of the antibody treatment last month, saying it was not as effective against the new variants.
“The double mutant variant” knew mutations in the most frightening place to have a mutation – the receptor binding domain, where the virus is used to attach to cells in our bodies to enter, “said Peter Chin-Hong,” an expert on infectious diseases said. at the University of California San Francisco. “The mutations are identical, or terribly similar to mutations in variants we already know, that have been scientifically proven to be transmissible and / or evade vaccinations. Therefore, many believe that this Indian variant will also have these superpowers.”
Tom Kenyon, chief health officer of Project HOPE and former director of global health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said scientists are finding more mutations, at least in part, because the new CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the agency ordered to enlarge. supervision. “The more we look for it, the more we will find it,” he said.
“There’s something about the world ‘double’ that scares people and makes them sound double bad,” Kenyon said in an interview. “Any mutation that affects transmissibility or viral replication will be dangerous.”
There is a possibility that the new variant will remain in the Bay Area, as opposed to the B.1.1.7 variant from the UK that has become the predominant tribe wherever it goes, Chin-Hong said.
“If the British variant goes into a boxing ring with the Indian variant, the British variant will probably emerge victorious from the battle. But only time will tell,” Chin-Hong said.
The longer it takes to vaccinate the world, the more opportunities the virus has to turn into even worse strains, scientists say. The CDC’s Walensky has warned of a looming downturn in the US as states reverse Covid-19 restrictions. She urged people to be vaccinated and continue with public health precautions, including wearing masks and social distances.
“The variants that scare me the most are the ones that have not yet been invented … the more the virus repeats, we will continue to see these escape mutants,” Chin-Hong said. “We need worldwide vaccination and continued fighting against pandemic fatigue.”
California will lift most Covid restrictions by June 15, but still plans to keep a mask mandate in place.