claims British variant can evade immune system and Sputnik V hits Lancet

A new mutation of British variant Kent coronavirus has been discovered and is able to evade the immune system and re-infect. You can avoid some vaccines. It has changed shape and the immune system might not recognize it, British scientists say. It has been found in 11 out of 200,000 cases.

The news was reported Tuesday morning by Public Health England and the UK government he becomes restless and alert.

A professor who is part of the panel of scientists advising the British government said that “it is the mutation which is of most concern at the moment”.

The new E484K mutation is the same change that has been observed in the South African and Brazilian variants, which is of concern internationally.

“The most disturbing mutation, which we call E484KIt has also occurred spontaneously in the new Kent strain in parts of the country, ”Calum Semple, member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, told BBC radio.

The mutation had already been reported in a technical report published by Public Health England. But this had not been widely noted outside of scientific circles.

The South African variant is increasing

With the South African variant in Britain, this is the most disturbing news. In those hours, 80,000 people will be tested in eight locations in Britain by the South African variant and they are asking people to stay inside their homes.

Surrey County Council Chief Tim Oliver assures residents of Woking that further testing is just an exercise to collect additional data on a possible community transmission of the South African variant.

He said “there is no need to panic”. “If people have had symptoms, I hope they still got tested.”

Professor Andrew Hayward, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threat Advisory Group (NERVTAG) which advises the government, argued that the 11 cases of the South African variant, unrelated to travel, can be “multiplied to a level quite high. large “.

While evidence of an increase in cases in the eight identified areas in Britain will help delay the spread, there will be areas where it has not yet been found. So we just “see tip of the iceberg community transmission “.

The variant was not discovered by regular testing, but in about 5% of cases that go through genomic systems. Hence the fear that among the 95% of cases that do not go through this process, there may be many more examples of the variant.

Equally concerning, Professor Hayward said that “natural immunity (for example, antibodies you might have from a previous COVID infection) might be less effective in preventing the variant” and that some of the vaccines might be less efficient.

“We have a lot at stake in the effectiveness of vaccines. That is why it is appropriate to take this measurement from the tests,” he said.

More strains

Professor Hayward, director of the Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care at UCL, said that in the long run, he 100% probable more strains are emerging in many countries, at different times, and we won’t notice them spreading.

“I think the real challenge here is, yes, you can think about closing the borders completely or quarantining. But what’s the end of the game? Is this something you’re going to do forever? Because it looks like these strains will continue to emerge in the long run. “

He says the government is going to need a sustainable strategy.

Sputnik V lands in the scientific world

Given the lack of vaccines in Europe, Sputnik V, the controversial Russian vaccine, lands for scientific verification.

The Sputnik V vaccine has an efficiency of 91.6% against symptomatic coronavirus, results of interim trials suggest.

Serious side effects were not considered to be associated with vaccination. Most reported side effects they were sweet, including flu-like symptoms, pain at the injection site, and weakness or lack of energy.

Interim data from the phase three trial of the vaccine, Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V), suggests that a two-dose regimen of the vaccine offers 91.6% efficacy.

The preliminary results, which will be published shortly in The Lancet, are based on analysis of data from nearly 20,000 participants, three quarters of whom received the vaccine and one quarter received a placebo.

Correspondent in Paris

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