Researchers have discovered seven variants of the coronavirus in the US, with a mutation in the same genetic letter, a new study has found.
They have been discovered in countries across the country and it is not yet clear if the strains are more contagious, but researchers are concerned.
“There’s clearly something going on with this mutation,” said Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport. The New York Times.
Kamil, the co-author of the new study, said he was sequencing coronavirus samples when he noticed the new variant, which contains mutations on the same amino acid. Scientists are concerned that the mutations could allow the virus to enter human cells Times report.
Kamil said the viruses all belong to the same genus, and after entering the genome in an online database used by other scientists, he learned that there were scientists in New Mexico who found the same variant with the same mutation. .
The genus that Kamil detected dates from December 1 and the samples from New Mexico date from October, but it is unclear when these variants actually started. Samples from across the country have emerged with this variant, but with limited genome sequencing, it is difficult to understand how common these mutated viruses are.
“I would be quite reluctant at the moment to give a place to any of these genders,” Emma Hodcroft, an epidemiologist at the University of Bern and co-author of the new study, told the Times.
The study has yet to be peer-reviewed. Experts have the Times that additional experiments are needed to determine whether these mutations affect transmission or disease.
Other more contagious variants have been discovered elsewhere. A recent analysis found that a variant first discovered in the UK, known as B.1.1.7, is 35 to 45 percent more transmissible than other strains spreading in the US, while a new review by scientists from the British government found that the same variant can be 30 to 70 percent more deadly than the original coronavirus.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention predicted that this would be the most common coronavirus variant by March.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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