[ad_1]
New testing technology has identified a large, previously unknown cluster of the highly contagious P1 variant strain in the Vancouver area.
Content of the article
A team of researchers from Saint Paul’s Hospital using a new method to quickly identify worrying variants of COVID-19 unexpectedly detected a cluster of more than 215 cases of the P1 variant – more than doubling the number of P1 cases in the province.
“Using this technology, we quickly identified a cluster of P1 cases that would otherwise likely go undetected,” said Dr. Marc Romney, associate clinical professor in the Department of Pathology and Medicine at laboratory at UBC and chief of medical microbiology and virology at St Paul’s.
“Since then, we have identified more P1 cases in British Columbia than in the United States as a whole and more than in any other country except Brazil and Italy.”
The P1 variant was first identified in Brazil.
Romney said the St. Paul’s lab is testing about 70% of the Vancouver area, including some suburbs. About 30% of the positive COVID-19 results his lab tested were variants of concern as of Friday. Of these, he said, “the majority was P1”.
Content of the article
The P1 variant is of particular concern because it contains a mutation that makes it both highly contagious and more resistant to antibodies produced from vaccines and previous coronavirus infections. It has the potential to infect people who have been vaccinated and even re-infect people who have had COVID-19.
At a press conference last week, the provincial health official acknowledged the growth of the P1 variant, saying it was “something we are watching very carefully.”
“This is concerning because this is a variant that we have seen to be very destructive in Brazil and there are concerns about the effectiveness of vaccines,” said Dr Bonnie Henry.
St. Paul’s technology used to identify variants – the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test – allows researchers to identify coronavirus variants within 24 hours, much faster than the more common process of sequencing the virus. genome, which can take several days. to several weeks. PCR is a fast, inexpensive technique used to copy and amplify small segments of DNA and has been in use for decades, with many applications outside of coronavirus testing.
“One thing we’ve learned from the pandemic is that you can’t be slow,” Romney said. “We have to keep pace with the virus, otherwise we will be making decisions based on data a week old.”
He said labs in British Columbia and other provinces “are also moving towards a PCR-based approach to test for variants of concern.”
They realized, he says, “that speed trumps perfection.”
Get the latest COVID-19 news delivered to your inbox on weekday evenings at 7 p.m. by signing up for our newsletter here.
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We would love to hear from you about this story or any story you think we should know about. Email [email protected]
[ad_2]
Source link