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New variants of the coronavirus around the world could halt progress in the fight against the pandemic.
In recent weeks, a number of new strains have been discovered, including in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.
Scientists warn that these new variants could easily re-infect people who have survived COVID-19 because there is possible resistance to the antibodies, which eludes the immune system response generated by the first infection.
Plus, they warn that the variants could force researchers to update vaccines often to the point that it looks like the flu with a vaccine needed every season.
New strains of coronavirus may be able to bypass the immune response COVID-19 survivors have developed and allow easier reinfection. Pictured: ICU Medical Director Dr Thomas Yadegar checks vital signs for Dr Neil Hecht and his wife Mindy Cross (center) at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, Calif., On 3 January
Vaccines may also need to be updated to target mutations seen in the spike protein, which the virus uses to enter and infect cells. Pictured: A man receives a dose of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination site in the Bronx, New York, January 10
Dr Nuno Faria, a virologist at Imperial College London and associate professor at the University of Oxford, told Science Magazine that Manaus, Brazil is a perfect case study on how variants can override them. progress.
In December 2020, he co-wrote an article estimating that 75% of the city’s population had been infected with the virus, enough for herd immunity.
However, around the same time, COVID-19 cases started to rise again and hospital beds were being filled.
“It was difficult to reconcile those two things,” Faria told the magazine.
Looking at samples, he found that a new variant had developed and spread throughout the city.
Of 31 samples taken in mid-December, 13 had the new line called P.1, and it appeared to bypass the immune response triggered by a virus that had infected people earlier in the year.
Of course, P.1 is not the only variant. Several have appeared around the world, perhaps none more notable than B 1.1.7., First identified in the UK.
B 1.1.7., Which is believed to be up to 70% more transmissible than other variants, has infected nearly 100 people in 18 states in the United States.
And, last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report indicating that it could become the most common strain in the country by March.
Another variant, called 501Y.V2, was first detected in South Africa and has spread to several other countries, but not the United States.
B 1.1.7., Believed to be up to 70% more transmissible than other variants, has infected nearly 100 people in 18 states in the United States, as well as some local variants.
A pre-printed study found that the South African variant had mutations in the spike protein, which the virus uses to infect human cells, which reduced the potency of the recovering plasma by 10 times.
Plasma is the liquid part of the blood that is transferred to COVID-19 patients in the hope that they will develop the antibodies needed to fight the virus.
Study author Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, pointed out to Science Magazine that this necessarily means that a person’s natural immunity declines by 10 times if they are infected with a new mutation.
He adds that the Brazilian variant, P.1, is of concern because the mutations are similar and it causes an increase in cases in areas considered to have a high threshold of immunity.
“ Anytime you see the same mutations happening and starting to spread multiple times, in different viral strains across the world, that’s very strong evidence that there is an evolutionary benefit to these mutations, ” he said. Bloom told Science Magazine.
“I would expect these viruses to have some advantage when a large part of the population is immune.”
There is currently no evidence that any of the variants are resistant to Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
However, the fact that new mutations keep emerging is concerning
“ The bad news is that the rapid evolution of these variants suggests that while it is possible for the virus to evolve into a vaccine-resistant phenotype, it could happen sooner than we wish, ” Philip Krause, WHO chairman of the COVID-19 vaccine task force, Science Magazine said.
There is a sense of urgency to vaccinate people as soon as possible to at least deal with the most prevalent strains today.
Where appropriate, vaccines could be easily reformulated to respond to different spike protein mutations.
This means that they would likely need to undergo more scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration before they are allowed.
“To be clear: these are downstream considerations,” Krause told Science Magazine.
“The public should not think that it is imminent and that new vaccines will be needed.”
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