Researchers have discovered a new coronavirus variant of concern in New York City

“Probably self-cultivated in New York,” said Dr. David Ho, director of the Columbia University Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, who led the research team, in an email.

The virus is constantly mutating. The more people infected and the longer they are infected, the more likely it is that the virus will have to change. Billions of copies of the virus are loaded into the patient’s body and can change or mutate slightly. Most come and go.

However, mutations or mutation patterns can become established and inherited. As viruses with this pattern become more common, they are called variants. Again, it’s not uncommon for variants to occur, but doctors begin to worry when they give them virus-worrisome properties, such as increased infectivity and the ability to avoid treatment or vaccines.

The mutation in this variant, which researchers are most concerned about, is called the E484K, which provides the virus with the ability to bypass part of the body’s immune response and approved monoclonal antibody therapy. This mutation appears independently in many different cases, but also in one particular variant (called B.1.526).

“It’s this new variant that has surprisingly surged in our patient population over the past few weeks,” the Colombian team wrote in a copy of their report provided to CNN.

“We found that the detection rate of this new variant has risen in the last few weeks. There is concern that it may be starting to overtake other strains, as well as the British and South African variants.” Mr Ho told CNN.

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

However, the E484K mutation is found in at least 59 different strains of coronavirus. In other words, it is a phenomenon known as convergent evolution, which is evolving independently nationwide and around the world. It may give benefits to the virus.

“Everything we know about this important mutation suggests that it appears to escape the pressure of the antibody,” Ho said.

On Tuesday, two teams reported on another variant that appears to be growing in California.

They fear that the mutants are not only more contagious, but can also cause more serious illness. Like the New York report, their research is in its very early stages, has not been published or peer-reviewed, and requires further work.

A team at the University of California, San Francisco tested a recent virus sample across California and found it to be much more common. It was not seen in the samples after September, but it was seen in half of the samples by the end of January.

This mutant, which the team calls B.1.427 / B.1.429, has a different mutation pattern than the first mutant in the UK called B.1.1.7 or B.1.351. One mutation, called L452R, affects the viral peplomer. This is the bit that the virus attaches to the infected cells.

“The L452R mutation, which is one specific mutation in the receptor binding domain of peplomers, may allow the virus to dock to cells more efficiently. Our data show that this is this. It shows that it is likely to be an important mutation that makes the mutant more infectious, “he said. Charles Chiu, Deputy Director of UCSF’s Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, who led one of the studies, told CNN.

And they found some evidence that it was more dangerous. “In this study, we observed an increase in the severity of diseases associated with B.1.427 / B.1.429 infection, including an increased risk of high oxygen requirements,” they will post to the preprint server later this week. I am writing in the report. After the San Francisco public health authorities reviewed it.

Chiu said it should be designated as a variant of concern and should be a research priority.

A second team from San Francisco-based non-profit organization Unidosen Salud, which provides high-speed testing in the mission district of San Francisco, tested 8,846 people in January and sequenced the virus from 630 samples. They also found a rapid increase in variants.

“According to the findings, the L452R variant represents 53% of the positive test samples collected between January 10 and 27. This is a sequence that this variant is only 16% of the positive tests. It has increased significantly since November, as indicated by. ” Diane Havlir, a UCSF infectious disease expert who is helping to lead the study, said in a statement.

The Havlir team is also preparing the findings for publication.