Three highly infectious delta mutants identified in El Paso

El Paso, Texas-In El Paso, three highly contagious Covid-19Delta mutants have been identified among unvaccinated people.

The announcement came from El Paso Mayor Oscar Rieser and County Judge Ricardo Samaniego at a briefing on Friday afternoon.

Officials said the three atypical cases were associated with women in their 20s, 40s, and 60s.

One of the women was temporarily hospitalized for the mutation, while the other two experienced milder symptoms. All three have been quarantined and the infection period has passed since they were contact traced.

As a precautionary measure against the spread of the variant, the two leaders asked El Pasoan to wear a face mask. (You can see their entire statement on the video player below.)

In addition, Dr. Hector Ocalanza of the City-County Health Department of El Paso urged those who have not yet been vaccinated to be vaccinated immediately.

“It’s not surprising for our community that Delta variants are currently being identified in our community. It’s important for community members to vaccinate because we knew it was only a matter of time.” Said Ocalanza. “Vaccines provide an important protective layer for individuals who can become seriously ill if infected with the virus.”

Ocalanza said the symptoms of the delta mutant look similar to Covid-19. But he added, “Doctors are seeing people, especially young people, get sick sooner.”

This is what is known about variants so far.

What is a delta variant?

Originally known as B.1.617.2, the Delta variant has been around since the end of last year, but has rapidly become dominant in many countries in recent months. According to the report, it accounts for more than 80% of newly diagnosed cases in the United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The number of cases of Covid-19 increased by more than 300% nationwide from June 19 to July 23, 2021, and hospitalization and death due to the highly infectious B.1.617.2 (delta) mutant increased in parallel. I did, “CDC said in Health. This Week’s Alert Network Advisory.

Delta variants are more contagious

The amount beyond that is not really clear. Quotes range from over 60% to over 200%, depending on who is making the quote.

One CDC document Delta variants are almost as contagious as chickenpox -Each infected person infects an average of 8-9 people. The original strain of coronavirus shown by the CDC was almost as contagious as a common cold, with each infected person infecting the other two.

It’s a difficult number to see, as it requires far more testing than is currently being done to understand it. Those who test positive need to submit a sample for genome sequencing, which is only done in some places in the United States.

And to compare its transmission rate to past variants, that kind of testing had to be done in the last few months-and it simply wasn’t.

Therefore, everything depends on the quote.

A group known as the UK Infectious Disease Modeler, Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modeling, and Operational Subgroup, data show that Delta is 40-60% more contagious than B.1.1.7 or alpha variants once. It is said to indicate that it is the dominant stock in the United States, but has been superseded by Delta. They say it is almost twice as contagious as the original strain of the virus that was first seen in China.

Delta can cause more serious illness

In some parts of the United States, hospital emergency and intensive care units are once again full of patients, according to the CDC and hospitals. Delta variants may appear to make people sick, but over 90% of people who appear for treatment are unvaccinated. Officials.

Therefore, if you are not vaccinated, you may be more likely to get Delta in the first place, but there is still no definitive data showing that Delta causes more serious illness.

The CDC cites three older studies: Canada, Singapore When Scotland, It shows that people infected with Delta go to the hospital more often.

It is also happening that young people make up the majority of those who get sick. According to the CDC, more than 80% of Americans over the age of 65 are fully vaccinated. However, young Americans are not vaccinated at the same rate, so they appear in the ER.

Even fully vaccinated people may be able to get more infected

No vaccine is 100% effective, but thousands of fully vaccinated people have been infected. This is known as a breakthrough case.

CDC has been released Amazing research Look at friday Outbreak in Provincetown, Massachusetts, 74% of infected people were completely vaccinated -And four of them ended up in the hospital.

The outbreak involved 469 people who caught Covid earlier this month.

“The test identified delta mutations in 90% of samples from 133 patients,” CDC and community health researchers wrote in the CDC’s weekly report.

This is the first major study that contradicts previous evidence that vaccinated people, including Delta and other variants, are almost completely safe from serious illness.

This was pointed out in a CDC presentation to Warensky this week.

“Vaccines prevent more than 90% of serious illnesses, but they can be less effective in preventing infections and infections,” he said. “Therefore, despite vaccination, more breakthroughs and more communities have spread.”

The CDC is currently recording this on its website.

“Available evidence is that the currently licensed mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) are hospitalized for various strains, including alpha (B.1.1.7), beta (B.1.351), and gamma. And suggests that it is very effective against death (P.1), and Delta (B.1.617.2). ” CDC says.

“Data suggest that efficacy against confirmed infections and symptomatic diseases caused by beta, gamma, and delta mutants is low compared to ancestral strains and alpha mutants. Vaccines against mutants. We need continuous monitoring of efficacy, “adds CDC.

Tests performed on laboratory dishes have shown that the immune response generated by the vaccine should, in theory, be strong and wide enough to cover the delta.

In breakthrough cases, it may be more infectious than past strains

The CDC initially told people that vaccination was unlikely to infect others, but Warensky of the CDC said this week that Delta variants could be different.

A study in Provincetown published on Friday shows that. “People at Covid-19 reported attending crowded indoor and outdoor events at venues such as bars, restaurants, guest houses, and rental housing,” the researchers write.

Testing of infected people showed that fully vaccinated people had as much virus in their bodies as unvaccinated people did.

“High viral load suggests an increased risk of infection, and unlike other variants, there is concern that vaccinated people infected with Delta may be infected with the virus. Is growing. Statement.

For this and other evidence, the CDC now says that even vaccinated people should wear masks in areas of persistent or highly infected. This is because after the vaccinated person is exposed, enough virus can grow in the body to infect others without symptoms.

“The results of this study indicate that even in areas where COVID-19 infection is substantial or high, we may consider expanding preventive strategies, including masking in indoor public environments, regardless of vaccination status. It suggests, “many areas with different levels of infection,” wrote the team that reported on the outbreak of Provincial Town.

Much of what is known comes from One study Performed by Chinese researchers.

They found that people infected with the Delta had a viral load 1,000 times higher than those who were initially infected with the pandemic.

Jing Lu and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Guangdong also said the virus was transmitted more quickly in four days compared to the six days at the start of the pandemic.

People who make back-of-the-envelope calculations about the properties of Delta often refer to this single study. For example, Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at New York University, made a fuss when he said that people could be infected with Delta with just one second of exposure compared to the 15 minutes at the start of the pandemic. Woke up.

This was not based on scientific observation. Gounder was extrapolated from Lu’s study, she I explained on Twitter.

It has some unique mutations

The Delta strain has a series of mutations that characterize it.

Each variant carries a cluster of different mutations. If these mutations cause different behaviors or effects on a particular viral strain, they will be tagged as a strain of concern or a mutant of interest.

Delta has at least three mutations in a structure called the receptor binding domain. This is the part of the virus that docks directly with infected human cells. They may help it escape detection by the immune system, and at least one of them may help it bind more tightly to the cell.

According to the American Society for Microbiology, another mutation at a site known as the furin cleavage site (on a characteristic peplomer) may also help the virus make cells more susceptible to infection.

“This mutation is thought to increase the infectivity and infectivity of the virus, but studies have shown that it must occur in the background of additional peplomer mutations to occur as a result. “ASM says.

There are no mutations that make other variants more contagious, including one that characterizes the alpha or B.1.1.7 variant, called N501Y. Beta or B.1.351 variant. Gamma or P1 variant. Also, there is no mutation called E484K found in beta and gamma versions.

The answer to the universal spread of infectious disease experts is more vaccination. “If more people get vaccinated, we’ll win this race,” Warensky said this week.

(CNN contributed to this report.)