Seven new highly contagious COVID-19 variants found in the United States

Seven new coronavirus variants have appeared in the United States since last summer, according to a new study – and scientists fear they are no longer contagious.

The new variants – each named after a bird – were detailed in a 25-page medical study published online Sunday, which has yet to be peer-reviewed.

The variants are similar in that each mutates the 677th amino acid of the coronavirus, found on the “peak” that the virus uses to attach to healthy cells – raising fears that the changes may make them more infectious.

“This stretch of Spike is important because of its proximity to a key region for virulence,” Vaughn Cooper, one of the study’s lead authors and director of the Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine, told CNN. University of Pittsburgh.

The mutations were discovered by scientists across the country performing genetic sequencing on positive COVID-19 tests.

They are:

• “Robin 1,” which “is found in more than 30 US states, but predominates in the Midwest,” according to the study. It was first detected in August.
• “Robin 2”, which was first found in a sample collected in early October in Alabama. As a result, it is most common in the southeast.
• “Pelican”, first detected in Oregon in late October. However, it has been found in 12 other states and is the only variant of the seven detected so far overseas, being tested in Australia, Denmark, India and Switzerland.
• “Yellowhammer”, which like “Robin 2” is most common in the Southeastern United States. It first appeared in a sample in late November.
• “Bluebird”, which first appeared in August and is most common in the northeast.
• “Quail”, which most often appears in opposite corners of the United States, the northeast and the southwest. It was first detected in early October.
• “Mockingbird”, first found in late November and widespread in the south-central United States, as well as along the east coast.

However, an overwhelming majority of positive coronavirus samples are never genetically sequenced, so it’s unclear just how widespread the variants can actually be and where they came from.

“I would be very hesitant to give an original location for any of these lines at this time,” said Emma Hodcroft, another study co-author and epidemiologist at the University of Bern, New York. Times.

It is also impossible to say at this time whether the mutations are, in fact, more virulent – as there is insufficient data to determine whether they actually spread at accelerated rates or whether they simply benefited from conditions conducive to the disease. infection, such as a transporter attending a super-application event.

However, other international variants – notably the British strain, which has been detected in the United States, including New York – have been shown to be significantly more infectious than the garden variety coronavirus, complicating efforts to eliminate the bug permanently. deadly.