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The league is using coronavirus testing in a new way that allows them to determine not only if a player has Covid-19 but also if a variant of the virus caused the player to be infected.
MLB is one of the few professional sports organizations entering its second season in the coronavirus pandemic.
After a few high-profile Covid-19 outbreaks among different teams last season, the league used a saliva test to track Covid-19 cases. MLB identified 89 positive cases after outbreaks on different teams, and frequent testing ultimately reduced transmission between players and staff.
But the new Covid-19 variants have thrown a curved ball into their plans this season.
“MLB is a microcosm of the United States and so we are seeing absolutely different variations, as you would expect in the regular community as well,” said Daniel Eicher, President of the Sports Research and Testing Laboratory, Dr. Sanjay. Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent. a recent interview.
Variants throw a curved ball
MLB is working with Eichner and his lab to detect variants in ball players using a coronavirus testing method called “alternative variant analysis”.
To test for variants, scientists usually have to sequence all of the genetic material of the coronavirus. The process is expensive and time consuming, which can take days or weeks to see results.
Such delays have impeded the ability to quickly and accurately contract positive trace cases to help experts understand the true extent of any variant spread of Covid-19 in the United States.
Eichner’s method needs to see a lot less virus to make a determination.
“Our variant analysis program specifically looks for a certain region of the virus whose mutations we know are indicative of the different known variants,” Eichner told Dr Sanjay Gupta in a recent interview.
The variants are defined by their mutations, and it is typical for viruses to mutate. There are hundreds of variants of the new coronavirus, and the vast majority of mutations are harmless to humans. But certain mutations can make the virus more transmissible, more deadly, or even resistant to vaccines and drugs.
The main advantage of Eichner’s variant analysis methodology is that it relies on polymerase chain reaction, or PCR tests, which are already widely used to detect the virus. With adaptation, the test can also give real-time results indicating whether a variant caused the infection.
It doesn’t give a full picture of the variant like genetic sequencing does, but it is a much faster screening tool.
“We can do that in real time, the same day we receive the samples, we’ll do that analysis and let them know,” Eichner said.
Beyond baseball
Analysis of alternative variants could potentially be incorporated into Covid-19 testing more broadly to better understand where variants are spreading in the United States.
A recent Yale study found that this PCR screening method could act as an “urgent surveillance tool to help monitor the distribution and frequency in the population of suspected variants.”
Using PCR tests to analyze variants is one of the reasons why so many cases of the UK variant have been discovered, as the variant causes a problem on a type of PCR test that scientists have been warning about, according to Dr James Lu, president of a company called Helix, whose Covid-19 tests have identified many of these cases.
“It gives you a very good result immediately, and it can help you drive your public health policy,” Eichner told Gupta.
And this is an important point. At present, the United States does not have a good idea of the spread of the variants because there is not enough surveillance – the United States only sequencing 4% of coronavirus cases, according to the comments from the director of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, in a March 25. event organized by the Pandemic Accountability Committee.
Wider use of the new method might help.
“This is a useful strategy, it can be used very conscientiously and be used on a fairly large scale if we use it correctly,” a CDC official told CNN when asked about the alternative methodology of variant analysis testing. .
One concern is that the PCR scan only identifies variants that have already been discovered, so it doesn’t necessarily tell experts where the new, undiscovered bad strains are, the official told CNN.
But if experts could get a better idea of the strains that are spreading in our communities, the United States has a better chance of catching and keeping this virus under control – and preventing future outbreaks.
“I think this information would be extremely valuable for health decision makers,” Eicher told Gupta. “There is nothing to lose in doing this, all the labs testing for SARS-CoV-2 so far, they all use PCR technology, so there is no reason they couldn’t integrate this type of technology. “
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