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Two independent research groups have released results confirming what many scientists have long suspected: The United States has its own unique viral variants of COVID-19 that are distinct from the British and South African lineages that made headlines these last weeks.
On Wednesday, researchers at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center announced two newly identified distinct variants. The next day, researchers at Southern Illinois University said they found a variant that could have emerged months ago and quickly spread across the country. The variant is likely the same or similar to one of the variants identified by the Ohio researchers.
Although viruses are constantly mutating, these mutations are not inherently dangerous, experts have warned. Further scientific experiments will be needed to show whether the newly identified American variants are more transmissible, more deadly, or if they could impact the vaccine.
And the researchers predicted that more variants could be identified in the coming weeks as more scientists start looking for them.
“This should be a red flag that we are not doing enough genomic monitoring,” said Dr. Angela Rasmussen, virologist and associate researcher at the Center of Infection and Immunity at Columbia University School of Public Health. .
“We’re going to see a lot of these articles come out,” said Rasmussen, who was not involved in either of the two studies. “Whether [the variants] whether or not they are associated with increased transmissibility remains to be seen. “
With the emergence of new variants around the world, there are fears that they could cause more serious illness and death, be more transmissible and render vaccines ineffective. It started with variants identified in the UK and then South Africa, both of which are considered more transmissible but not more deadly. But they’re unlikely to undermine current vaccines, according to very preliminary research.
Researchers at Southern Illinois University call this American variant 20C-US. The variant is not new, just newly identified. Its origin can be traced back to a sample of patients in Texas as of May 2020. Since then, the variant appears to have swept the country. According to Dr. Keith T. Gagnon, one of the lead researchers in the study published by Southern Illinois, 20C-US now compromises about 50% of samples in the country. It is currently widespread in the Upper Midwest, which could explain why researchers in the state of Ohio have detected a surprisingly similar variant.
Dr Daniel Jones, one of the lead authors of the Ohio State study, told ABC News that these variants could be of the same lineage, but that more research on each of them are necessary.
While some researchers, including Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House task force, have speculated that there may be an American variant circling the country, these two studies are the first flawless proof of that.
Gagnon said it took months for American scientists to identify this variant because the United States did not systematically monitor and track the ever-changing genetic makeup of COVID-19 samples taken from patients.
Gagnon also said it was possible that the 20C-US variant could be more transmissible, especially with infections on the rise in the fall and winter. The variant could have been lucky and gained a foothold as people spent more time indoors and saw family and friends for the holidays without proper social distancing and masks.
With several vaccines now available, there are concerns that this new American variant may render the vaccines ineffective. But so far, there is no evidence that mutations have an impact on the effectiveness of vaccines.
“It was there, under our noses for months,” Gagnon said, meaning that volunteers who were vaccinated in large, late-stage vaccine trials were likely exposed to it and a majority were protected.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to interfere with the vaccines,” Gagnon added.
The other variant discovered by researchers in the state of Ohio was found in only one patient. It has similar mutations seen in the UK and South Africa, but has not been associated with travel and has developed independently here in the US. It is not known how many of the population has this variant and if it will be significant.
Both groups recommended keeping their cool and waiting for further experimental studies to determine what these variants will do.
“We are not prepared to overreact,” said Peter Mohler, scientific director and co-author of the study from Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University.
“We want to make sure we study these [variants] in the lab and get very good data ”to determine if they are changing transmission and mortality, he added.
But the researchers also warn that the longer the COVID-19, the more mutations and variants there will be. And each time, we’ll have to determine whether the variants are more heritable or fatal.
Sean Llewellyn, MD, Ph.D., is a resident family medicine physician at the University of Colorado and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit. Sony Salzman is the coordinating producer of the unit.
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