Health
Mutations rise with cases – The Denver Post
The competition with the virus that causes COVID-19 is moving in a new direction. The more rapidly mutations occur and the longer it takes to vaccinate people, the more likely it is that variants will emerge that may evade current tests, treatments and vaccines. ..
Coronaviruses are more genetically diversified, and health officials say the main reason is the high incidence of new cases. With each new infection, the virus is given the opportunity to mutate when making a copy of itself, threatening to undo the progress made so far to control the pandemic.
On Friday, the World Health Organization urged further efforts to detect new variants. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the new version, first identified in the UK, could become dominant in the US by March. It doesn’t cause more serious illness, but it will lead to more hospitalizations and deaths just because it spreads much easier, the CDC warned of “a new stage of exponential growth.” ..
“We take it very seriously,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US government infectious disease expert, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“We need to do everything we can now … to make the communication as low as possible,” said Dr. Michael Mina of Harvard University. “The best way to prevent the emergence of mutant strains is to delay the infection.”
So far, the vaccine seems to remain effective, but there are signs that some new mutations may weaken testing for the virus and reduce the effectiveness of antibody drugs as a treatment. ..
“We are facing a battle against time,” said Dr. Pardis Saveti, an evolutionary biologist at Broad and Harvard laboratories, because the virus “may encounter mutations.” It was.
Young people may be reluctant to wear masks, avoid crowds, or take other steps to avoid infection, as the current strains do not seem to make them so sick. “With one mutation change, that may be the case,” she warned. Sabeti recorded that the Ebola virus changed and worsened during the 2014 outbreak.
Rising mutations
It is normal for small changes or mutations in the genetic alphabet to occur as the virus propagates. Anything that helps the virus prosper gives the virus a competitive advantage and thus crowds other versions.
In March, just a few months after the coronavirus was discovered in China, a mutation called D614G appeared, making it easier to spread. It soon became the dominant version in the world.
Trevor Bedford, a biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, wrote on Twitter last week that “a remarkable evolution has begun to be seen” in the virus a few months after it was relatively calm. “The fact that we have confirmed that three variants of concern have occurred since September suggests that there are even more concerns in the future.”
One was first identified in England and soon became dominant in parts of England. It is currently reported in at least 30 countries, including the United States.
Shortly thereafter, South Africa and Brazil reported new variants. On Tuesday, researchers at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles may have spurred a recent surge in cases, with yet another new variant found in one-third of COVID-19 cases in the city. Said.
The major mutations in the version identified in the UK also appeared in another version that “is endemic in Ohio … dating back to at least September,” said Dr. Dan Jones, a molecular pathologist at Ohio State University. Announced the last discovery. weekly.
“The important finding here is that this is unlikely to be travel-related.” Instead, it reflects that the virus independently acquires similar mutations as more infections occur. It may be.
It also suggests that travel restrictions may not work, Mina said. There are so many cases in the United States that, like any other country, “we can breed our variants,” he said.
Risk of treatment, vaccines, reinfection
Several lab tests suggest that variants identified in South Africa and Brazil may be less susceptible to antibody-rich blood from antibody drugs, recovered plasma, and COVID-19 survivors. .. Both help people fight the virus.
Dr. Janet Woodcock of the US Food and Drug Administration told reporters Thursday that government scientists are “actively investigating” that possibility. She said the government is encouraging the development of multiple-antibody therapies rather than single-antibody drugs, and is encouraging more ways to target the virus in case it turns out to be ineffective. Said.
According to many scientists, current vaccines elicit a wide enough immune response that they need to remain effective. Sufficient genetic alterations may ultimately require fine-tuning vaccine prescriptions, but “if the vaccine is used well, not months, it will probably be years,” said the University of Utah. Dr. Andrew Pavia said in a webcast hosted Thursday at the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Health officials are also worried that if the virus changes sufficiently, people may be infected with COVID-19 again. Reinfection is rare now, but Brazil has already confirmed a case of someone in a new variant who was ill in an earlier version a few months ago.
What should I do
Dr. Adam Rolling, an infectious disease expert at the University of Michigan, said, “Because there are so many viruses, we see many variants and diversity of viruses,” and reducing new infections is the best way to control it. The way. At Ann Arbor.
Loyce Pace, who heads the non-profit Global Health Council and is a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, advises scientists that they are “still working and they are still important.” He stated the same precautions he was taking.
In a webcast hosted by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, she said Thursday, “We still want people to be masked.”
“We still need people to limit meetings with people outside the family. Especially when these varieties emerge, we still have people wash their hands and really into their public health practices. You need to be vigilant. “
AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson contributed to the report.
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.
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