They detect that there is a community transmission of the variants of Great Britain and that of Rio de Janeiro in Argentina

There is already community transmission in Argentina of the coronavirus variants that have been detected in the United Kingdom and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as detected by the Country Consortium, which reports to the Ministry of Sciences of the Nation. These are confirmed cases of COVID-19 that did not have a travel history.

“We found a case of a UK variant in a patient from the La Matanza party. In this case, the infection with the variant was acquired in the community, ”he informed. Infobae the researcher at Conicet and at the children’s hospital Ricardo Gutiérrez, Mariana Viegas, who was one of the promoters of the Country Consortium for the genomic surveillance of the coronavirus.

The 501Y.V1 variant (line B.1.1.7) was detected in the UK on September 20 last year. It has already been reported in 94 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay, in South America. In our country, it was found for the first time in a sample at the end of December 2020, of an Argentinian resident in the UK who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 upon arrival at Ezeiza airport from Frankfurt. Now, researchers have identified community transmission of the variant in the province of Buenos Aires and in the city of Buenos Aires. In other words, it is no longer possible to identify the epidemiological link through which the person was infected with the virus.

Regarding the Rio de Janeiro variant was detected in October 2020 in Brazil. Currently, this variant has been detected in 20 countries, including Argentina, with community dissemination, as confirmed by the Country Consortium. In its latest statement, the group of researchers detailed that they performed partial sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein gene in 81 patient samples from the capital and province of Buenos Aires from January 27 to February 21. .

“We are seeing an increase in the frequency of the E484K mutation in Spike associated with the Rio de Janeiro variant which is already circulating in the community,” added Dr Viegas. Investigators also studied the Manaus variant and found 2 cases. In one case, it is a traveler from Brazil. In the second case, it is a close contact of a traveler. In other words, regarding the Manaus variant, even the national consortium did not detect community transmission.