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A new variant of the coronavirus has been discovered in the Bay Area of California.
Stanford’s Clinical Virology Laboratory, through genomic sequencing, has identified and confirmed a case of the emerging variant, which originated in India, according to a spokesperson for Stanford Health Care on Sunday. At least seven suspected cases of the Indian variant have also been found.
The variant is labeled as the “double mutant” because it carries two mutations in the virus that help it attach to cells, according to reports.
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“If you are in an elevator with someone who is infected with the variant, you are more likely to be infected with this variant,” said Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory director Dr. Ben Pinsky, according to FOX 2 from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong of UCSF, an infectious disease specialist, called the variant “less forgiving”.
He noted that the variant could be more contagious as it accounts for 20% of cases in the hard-hit Indian state of Maharashtra. Cases there have increased by 50% over the past week, he said.
“It also makes sense that it is more biologically transmissible as both mutations act at the receptor binding domain of the virus, but there have been no official transmission studies to date.” , he told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Chin-Hong added that it was too early to know whether the variant – first detected by Indian health officials this year – can cause re-infections or is more resistant to vaccine antibodies. One of the mutations was similar to a variant that was first detected in California. Another mutation was found on variants that were first detected in Brazil and South Africa.
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“This Indian variant contains two mutations in the same virus for the first time, previously seen on separate variants,” Chin-Hong said. “Since we know the affected domain is the part that the virus uses to enter the body, and the California variant is already potentially more resistant to certain vaccine antibodies, there seems to be a chance that the Indian variant does. that too. “
While Chin-Hong said studies have yet to confirm this, he felt that the “optimistic” vaccinations might work based on the known effectiveness against variants originating in South Africa and California. Chin-Hong added that the UK variant B.1.1.7 is more transmissible.
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“I believe deep down that the vaccines will still be effective against this new Indian variant based on some of the information we’ve gotten about the still scary variants, like the South African variant, and how the vaccine from Pfizer is really effective against this, “Chin-Hong told FOX 2.” The sun is shining on California, our cases are down. We have made great strides. But, we have to be safe, we have to keep our guards.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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