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A worrying new variant of the coronavirus first detected in South Africa, known as B.1.351, has already spread to more than 30 countries. Experts are particularly alarmed by this variant because of its potential to “evade” the protection of current vaccines, which means that vaccines might not prevent people from becoming infected with COVID-19. Here’s what you need to know about the new variant.
What is that?
The B.1.351 variant is a strain of the coronavirus with eight distinctive mutations in the virus spike protein, the structure that allows the virus to bind to and infect human cells, according to a study by South African researchers published on the medRxiv pre-print site in December 2020.
Where is he from?
This variant was first detected in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa, in early October 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She took off quickly, and within weeks she was the dominant strain in parts of the country. Now South African officials are finding the variant in more than 90 percent of samples from COVID-19 patients who undergo genetic sequencing, according to the Washington Post.
“It’s amazing and terrifying how quickly he came to dominate,” Dr Richard Lessells, an infectious disease expert at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, told the Post.
In addition, the variant has now appeared in at least 32 other countries; and a number of countries, including the United States, have banned travel from South Africa, the Post reported.
Is it in the United States?
Yes, the first two cases of B.1.351 were reported in the United States Thursday, Jan.28 in South Carolina, according to a statement from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The two cases do not appear to be related, and neither case had a recent travel history, suggesting that the variant is spreading in the community.
Is it more contagious?
This variant appears to spread more easily, with studies showing that it is around 50% more transmissible than previous strains of the coronavirus. This is worrying because the more people the virus infects, the more people will be hospitalized or die from the disease.
Do the vaccines work against the South African variant?
Even more alarming is the finding that current COVID-19 vaccines may not work as well against this variant.
Johnson & Johnson released new data on Friday, January 29, on its COVID-19 vaccine candidate which showed its vaccine to be 72% effective in the United States and only 57% in South Africa, where the new variant is dominant, Live Science Previously reported.
In addition, another vaccine maker, Novavax, released its first results on Thursday (January 28) showing that its vaccine was nearly 85% effective against the so-called UK variant, but only 50% effective in preventing the infection with the South African variant, Nature reported.
This decreased efficacy is likely to be seen in other vaccines as well.
A recent Moderna COVID-19 vaccine study, which examined blood samples from people who had been vaccinated, found that the levels of antibodies produced in response to the South African variant were six times lower than the levels produced in response to other strains, according to The Scientist.
Despite the reduction, the vaccine is still expected to offer some protection against the variant, the company said in a statement.
“You could decrease the effectiveness of the antibodies induced by the vaccine by a few times while still staying well within the protective range,” said Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during a press briefing on Wednesday (Jan. 27).
Still, Moderna said, out of caution, the company has started work on a “booster” dose of the South African variant vaccine, which could potentially be added to the two-dose series for the existing vaccine.
How is it different from the British variant?
The UK variant of the coronavirus was first detected in the UK in September 2020, Live Science previously reported. The South African and British variants appear to be more transmissible than the other strains. And the variants share some of the same mutations in the spike protein.
But the South African variant has a mutation known as E484K, which is not found in the British variant. This mutation may be responsible for the ability of the South African variant to partially evade vaccines. According to Newsweek, the mutation would reduce the ability of certain antibodies to neutralize or inactivate the virus.
There is preliminary evidence that the UK variant may be more deadly than other variants, Live Science reported; but so far there is no evidence that the South African variant is more lethal.
Am I immune to the South African variant if I already have coronavirus?
Maybe not. The E484K mutation may also reduce the ability of antibodies from a natural infection to COVID-19 to neutralize the virus.
In the Novavax trial in South Africa, many people were re-infected with the South African variant after already contracting the virus earlier in the pandemic.
And in a study of 44 people in South Africa who had already been infected with COVID-19 earlier in the pandemic, more than 90% showed reduced immunity to the new variant when researchers tested their blood, and nearly half had no protection against it, according to USA Today.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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