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While the covid-19 variants from the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa got all the attention, there has been a disturbing strain that is quietly growing and spreading in California.
The new variant, which scientists call B.1.427 / B.1.429, which appeared on the radar in September 2020 is thought to spread faster than the others. There is now concern that this may be better avoid antibodies created by a previous infection or vaccine, and may cause more serious illness.
But is this really worrying?
What causes the alarm on the California variant?
“This variant is of concern because our data shows that it is more contagious, more likely to be associated with serious disease and at least partially resistant to neutralizing antibodies,” says Charles Chiu, infectious doctor and sequencing specialist at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) who is the lead author of a pre-printed report laboratory studies and epidemiological data.
The data suggests that the new strain “should probably be designated as worrying variant warranting urgent follow-up investigation, ”write the authors in their pre-publication, which has not been peer-reviewed and which they believe should be uploaded soon. “The devil is already here,” Chiu told the LA Times.
In other words, there is limited evidence that the new strain found in California is more resistant to antibodies and more likely to cause serious illness or death.
On the effectiveness of vaccines, Chiu went on to tell The Times that “if we can get enough people vaccinated, we will be able to treat these variants simply because we will not have continuous transmission. “
The same mitigation measures apply to the new variants as the original strain of coronavirus: wear a mask, stay away socially, and don’t spend time indoors with people outside your household.
Other scientists more cautious about the Californian strain
However, Science Mag reported this week that other coronavirus experts say more data is needed before drawing any real conclusions, noting that among patients with the variant, the study included less than 10 who were admitted to the ICU and less than 10 who died.
“If I were a critic I would like to see more data from more infected people to substantiate this very provocative claim, ”says David O’Connor, a viral sequencing expert at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who was not part of the research.
“I’m more and more convinced that this one transmits more than others locally,” William Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health who was not involved in the research, told The New York Times , in reference to the contagious variant found in the UK Hanage added “But there is no evidence to suggest it is along the same lines as B.1.1.7.“
For their study, the authors sequenced 2,172 genomes from virus samples captured from 300 patients in 44 counties in California between September 1, 2020 and January 29, 2021.
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