A new coronavirus mutant found in northeastern New York

February 25, 2021-Two research teams New coronavirus According to New York City and northeastern mutants, natural immune responses and some monoclonal antibody therapies may be avoided To CNN..

The variant, called B.1.526, has sprung up in different parts of New York City and is “scattered in the northeast,” the researchers said.

“The detection rate steadily increased from late December to mid-February, rising surprisingly to 12.7% in the last two weeks,” a researcher at Columbia University Medical Center wrote in a report. Published as a preprint this week..

Earlier this week the team released Another preprint It mentions the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa, respectively, and the B.1.526 variant in the United States. Neither report has been peer reviewed.

The virus mutates frequently, and several coronavirus variants have been identified. Pandemic.. Not all mutations are important and not necessarily more contagious or dangerous. Researchers are tracking the B.1.526 variant in the United States to see if there are significant mutations that could raise concerns.

In the latest preprint, the variant appears to have the same mutation found in B.1.351 called E484K, which may prevent the virus. vaccine And the body’s natural immune response. According to the research team, the E484K mutation was found in at least 59 strains of coronavirus. This means that the virus is evolving independently across the country and the world, which can bring benefits to the virus.

“The concern is that, like the British and South African variants, they may be starting to overtake other strains,” said Dr. David Ho, MD, principal research author and director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in Colombia. I told CNN.

“But we don’t have enough data at this point to confirm this,” he said.

so Another preprint Posted on Tuesday, a research team at the California Institute of Technology has developed a software tool that noticed a rise in B.1.526 in the New York area. The preprint has not yet been peer reviewed.

“The frequency of strain B.1.526 seems to be increasing rapidly in New York,” they write.

Both teams also reported another variant called B.1.427 / B.1.429 that appears to be increasing in California. The mutants are more contagious and can cause more serious illness, they said, but research is still in its infancy.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have tested virus samples from recent outbreaks in California and have also found that variants are becoming more common. The variant did not appear in the September sample, but was included in half of the sample by late January. It has a different mutation pattern than other mutants, and what is called L452R affects the viral spike protein, which can make it easier to attach to cells.

“Our data show that this is likely to be an important mutation that makes this mutant more infectious,” said Charles Chiu, Deputy Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at UCSF. The doctor of medicine told CNN.

The team also found that patients with B.1.427 / B.1.429 infections had more severe COVID-19 cases and needed more oxygen, CNN reported. The team will post a preprint this week once the San Francisco public health authorities have confirmed the report.

Currently, the CDC provides public data for the three variants of B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1 that were first identified in Brazil. The United States reports 1,881 B.1.1.7 cases in 45 states, 46 B.1.351 cases in 14 states, and 5P.1 cases in 4 states. CDC tally Updated on Tuesday.

At this time, laboratory staff cannot tell patients or doctors if anyone is infected with the mutant. To Kaiser Health News.. High-level laboratories perform sample genomic sequences and cannot convey information to individual individuals.

However, associations of public health laboratories and public health authorities in some states are seeking federal approval of tests that can sequence the entire genome and notify physicians. According to the press, this test may be available within a few weeks.