Explainer: Is the new coronavirus strain a source of concern?

New reports from the UK and South Africa Coronavirus Strains that appear to spread more easily are causing vigilance, but virus experts say it’s unclear if that’s the case or if they raise concerns. vaccine Or cause a more serious illness.

The virus evolves naturally as it travels within the population. This is one of the reasons why you need a fresh flu shot every year.

New variants or strains of the virus that cause COVID-19 have been nearly seen since they were first detected in China almost a year ago.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new restrictions due to new tensions. Some European Union countries and Canada have banned or restricted some flights from the United Kingdom in an attempt to limit spreads.

This is what is known about the situation.

What about the recent stocks found in the UK?

Health experts in the United Kingdom and the United States said the strain appears to be more susceptible to infection than other strains, but there is no evidence yet and it is more deadly.

Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser to the UK government, said the strain “is moving fast and is becoming the predominant variant,” causing more than 60% of infections in London by December.

The strain also has a large number of mutations (about 2 dozen) and is concerned because it is in a pointed protein that the virus uses to attach and infect cells. That spike is what current vaccines are targeting.

“I’m certainly worried about this,” but it’s too early to know how important it is in the end, said Dr. Rabbi Gupta, a virus researcher at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He and other researchers have posted the report on a website that scientists use to quickly share developments, but the treatise has not been officially reviewed and published in the journal. ..

How do these new strains occur?

Viruses often acquire small one- or two-letter changes in the genetic alphabet through normal evolution. A slightly modified stock can become the most common stock in a country or region simply because it first settled there, or because it helped the “superspreader” event settle There is sex.

A greater concern is when viruses mutate by altering proteins on their surface, helping them escape drugs and the immune system.

“New evidence” suggests that it may be starting to occur with a new coronavirus, Trevor Bedford, a biologist and genetics expert at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, on Twitter. wrote. “We have now seen the emergence and spread of several mutants that suggest this,” he said, and some have shown resistance to antibody treatment.

What other strains have emerged?

In April, Swedish researchers discovered a virus with two genetic alterations, which seems to be about twice as infectious, Gupta said. He said about 6,000 cases have been reported worldwide, mainly in Denmark and the United Kingdom.

Several variations of that strain have now emerged. Some have been reported by people who obtained them from a Danish mink farm. The new South African stock has several other changes in addition to the two previously seen changes.

According to Gupta, the UK one has more than one change, including eight to spike proteins. It is called a “variant under investigation” because its importance is not yet known.

A World Health Organization official told the BBC on Sunday that the strain was confirmed in southeastern England in September and has been endemic in the region ever since.

Can a person infected with COVID-19 from an old strain get a new strain? Does it delve into the vaccine?

Probably not, former US Food and Drug Director Scott Gottlieb talked about CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

“It’s unlikely,” Gupta agreed.

President Joe Biden’s general candidate for surgeon, Vivek Mercy, told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, “Why do you believe the vaccine developed isn’t effective against the virus?” No, “he said.

Some experts have pointed out that vaccines provoke a wide range of reactions by the immune system, not just against spike proteins.

Dr. Monsef Slawi, chief science adviser to the U.S. government’s vaccine distribution activities, said in CNN’s State of the Union address that new strains are unlikely to be resistant to existing vaccines, but “do not exist.” Not.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a tolerant variant,” he said. “I think it is very unlikely that this particular variant of the UK has escaped vaccine immunity.”

Bedford agreed.

“I’m not worried,” Bedford said on Twitter. Not only one or two mutations, but many changes in the genetic code will be required to weaken the vaccine. However, the vaccine may need to be fine-tuned over time as changes accumulate, and changes should be monitored more closely, he wrote.

Mercy said the new strain does not change public health advice to wear masks, wash hands and maintain social distance.

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Associated Press writers John Hannah of Topeka, Kansas, Sylvia Hui of London, and Rob Gillies of Toronto contributed to the press.

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The Associated Press’s Department of Health Sciences is supported by the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AP is solely responsible for all content.