the $ 1 million machine bought by Argentina to track Covid mutations minute by minute

The new variants of Covid are, at this point in the coronavirus pandemic, the big threat that has scientists on the prowl. The worst-case scenario would be that vaccines already in use and those in development could be weakened by the new strains.

Argentina has decided to purchase state-of-the-art equipment that monitors these possible minute-by-minute changes. The NovaSeq It’s a 600-kilogram machine the size of an ATM. It was bought by the government from Illumina, an American company based in San Diego, valued at $ 992,600. There are few of these teams in the world. The United States and Great Britain have theirs.

The Argentinian specimen is the first from South America. It is already installed in the biological containment unit of the Anlis-Malbrán Institute. It is a place prepared so that the electricity never goes out and the temperature remains constant. There, they train scientists who soon (the date was still announced) would start using the genomic sequencer.

The NovaSeq will be able to process 6000 samples per week. The equipment that Malbrán had so far could only handle 300 in the same period. In other words, vigilance will increase 20 times, to try to determine if new mutations or one of those already existing in the world appear in coronavirus tests carried out in the country.

So far they have appeared only two patients with Covid variants in Argentina. One was the British variant and the other was the Rio de Janeiro variant. The two people could be isolated in time and since January 16, when the UK mutation was detected here, no positive cases with variants have been recorded again in the country.

Claudia Perandones, Scientific Director of Anlis-Malbrán, explained to Bugle that “in addition to sequencing the Covid genome, the NovaSeq can diagnose it.” In other words, it determines whether the sample is positive and also the variant to which it belongs.

In this diagnosis, the sensitivity is 99.7 percent, higher than 98 percent which has the standard system. This means that it almost minimizes the risk of them happening false negatives. The difference is that it tests 98 regions of the virus (instead of the three that the traditional method analyzes) to give the result.

“Several of the vaccines are based on adenovirus vector strategies. This is why it is essential to proceed with the genomic sequencing of all adenoviruses circulating both nationally and regionally, to ensure the effectiveness of vaccines”, Explained Perandones.

The expert added that “to monitor these variations through monitoring the genomics of the viral population circulating in the country, in particular after the application of the vaccine, is essential to ensure correct coverage of the circulating lines according to the strategy chosen ”.

In addition to monitoring the effectiveness of vaccines based on the mutations that appear, the detection of new strains is also essential “to determine, for example, whether an increase in infections may be the cause of a relaxation of prevention measures. society or the appearance of a variant that has higher transmissibility»Explains Perandones.

Covid variants are a “constellation of mutations” or changes in the genome of the Sars-CoV-2 virus. A variant can have one or more mutations the more complex mutations tend to be.

So far in the world there is four confirmed variants and one under study:

1- British variant: it is 70% more contagious, although its symptoms are not more serious. Prime Minister Boris Johnson slipped that it would be more deadly, but scientifically it has been proven not to be. There are more deaths, of course, because there are more infections. The available vaccines have not demonstrated an inferior potency on this strain.

2- South African variant: it is more common in young people without underlying health problems and, compared to other variants, it more frequently leads to serious illness in the event of co-morbidities. Preliminary studies have shown that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines can see slightly reduced its action before this variant.

3- Variant of Rio de Janeiro: it started circulating in July, was detected in October and the results were reported in December. From that moment on, its frequency increased considerably, although it is still largely limited to Rio de Janeiro. Reduces the antibody response, but even so, they are still effective in neutralizing the virus.

4- Brazilian variant: It was detected in Tokyo on January 6, 2021 by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and was found in four people who arrived in the Japanese capital after traveling from Amazonas state on January 2, 2021. The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation has confirmed the hypothesis that the variant circulated in the Amazon rainforest.

5- Variant from Mexico: After scientists at the University of Guadalajara detected a possible Mexican variation, the director general of the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control Programs, Ruy López Ridaura, announced that they were already investigating whether it It was indeed a new strain of the infectious agent. But there are still no confirmations in this regard.

PS