Two upcoming studies raise concerns about a new variant of coronavirus that scientists have been looking at in California.
They suggest that the variant could not only be more contagious, but can also cause more severe diseases. The research is in its infancy, has not been published or evaluated by colleagues and needs more work, the researchers said.
A team at the University of California, San Francisco, tested virus samples from recent outbreaks in California and found that it is becoming more common. It has not been seen in any samples since September, but was found in half of the samples by the end of January.
This variant, which the team calls B.1.427 / B.1.429, has a different pattern of mutations than the variants first seen in the UK, called B.1.1.7 and in South Africa, called B.1.351. A mutation, called L452R, affects the spike protein of the virus, which is the bit that attaches to the cells that the virus infects.
A specific mutation, the L452R mutation, in the spike protein binding receptor domain may allow the virus to land more efficiently on cells. Our data shows that this is probably the key mutation that makes this variant more infectious, “Dr. Charles Chiu, associate director of the clinical microbiology lab at UCSF, which led one of the studies, told CNN.
And they found some evidence that it is more dangerous.
“In this study, we observed an increased severity of the disease associated with B.1.427 / B.1.429 infection, including an increased risk of high oxygen demand,” they wrote in their report, which is to be posted on a prepress server. later this week, after public health officials in San Francisco review it.
Chiu said a concern should be identified and should be considered a priority for the study.
A second team from Unidos en Salud, a nonprofit organization in San Francisco that provides rapid tests in the San Francisco mission district, tested 8,846 people in January and sequenced the virus from 630 samples. They also discovered a rapid growth of the variant.
“The research results indicate that the L452R variant represents 53% of the positive test samples collected between January 10-27. This is a significant increase since November, when our sequencing indicated that this variant contained only 16% of the positive tests, “said in a statement Dr. Diane Havlir, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, who helps lead the study.
Havlir’s team is also preparing its findings for publication.