Mexico studies the emergence of a new variant of the coronavirus

The alarm went off in the last days in Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico. Four people with symptoms of coronavirus were treated at health centers in the city and were initially thought to be affected by the Brazilian or South African variants of the disease, considered to be much more contagious.

But scientists at the University of Guadalajara want to do a little more research. They suspect that it could be a new mutation which gives rise to the Mexican variant of the coronavirus.

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All four patients were infected with a variant of COVID-19 that it could even be a new local strain, different from those detected in Brazil, the United Kingdom or South Africa, said this Sunday the head of the diagnostic laboratory for emerging and re-emerging diseases (Ladeer) of the University Center for Health Sciences of this university, Natali Vega Magana.

The so-called E484K mutation of SARS-CoV-2 was detected in Jalisco on January 27. Of the four patients, only one had contact with a stranger in Puerto Vallarta, where the infection started. The others did not report any contact with people who had traveled abroad.

More studies

Vega Magaña, quoted by the newspaper The universal from Mexico, said that although the strain detected in the laboratory is associated with Brazilian and South African, “the mutation does not necessarily confirm that patients have been infected with these variants.”

Natali Vega Magaña, scientist

Investigations continue to determine if it is part of a variant that could be Mexican

For this reason, he argued that “investigations are continuing to confirm this or to establish whether it is part of a variant which may be Mexican”.

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And he added: “We need to do more studies. What we can confirm is that we have detected the E484K mutation and it is an important finding, as it had not been reported in Mexico. However, further studies are needed such as sequencing, as well as the analysis of more positive samples to determine the prevalence of this mutation in Jalisco ”.

Alarm and precautions

Vega Magaña said that it is only in the coming weeks that more information will be available to validate this discovery. “This change being recent, more information and studies are lacking. We have to be very careful and careful with the information we have, because it is preliminary; but what has been reported is that this mutation may be linked to a second infection. It is important not to be alarmed and to take precautions, to continue with hygiene care, social distancing and the correct use of the mask, ”he said.

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For his part, the rector of the University Center for Health Sciences, José Francisco Muñoz Valle, declared that they were working “on sequencing protocols to be able to define whether only the E484K mutation is found in the identified samples or if it is there are other mutations. which can define a characteristic strain of the Mexican population ”.

Mexico, with 155,145 deaths, is the third country with the most deaths from the coronavirus, just behind the United States with 434,696 deaths and Brazil with 221,547 deaths.