A new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was detected in New York, which has raised concern among authorities. Will this be the reason for new or more stringent restrictions to prevent its spread? Is it a more contagious version of the pathogen? Will it cause serious illness?
The answers to these and other questions have yet to be defined. However, in an effort to get to know her and begin to dispel doubts, two research teams have yielded useful information about her.
Genetic sequencing reveals that it has already spread to other states in the United States, but does not appear to be as invasive as that of the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil. Despite this, research suggests that the New York variant of COVID-19 may have a mutation that makes it more resistant to vaccines.
Variant B.1.526 has spread to other US states
B.1.526, as the New York variant of the coronavirus has been called, appeared in samples collected from patients within the city in November 2020. Since then, it has spread so rapidly that by the middle of this month, it was found in one out of every four viral sequences.
But its transmission is not limited to New York, as it has also crossed its limits, reaching other states in the United States. Despite this, it is not yet clear how problematic this variant is or could become. As we explained in our special note weeks ago, viruses continually mutate, and this process does not necessarily generate more dangerous variants.
"Most are not of particular concern," said Francois Balloux, director of the Institute of Genetics at University College London. But detecting them early can help to take precautions or prudent measures, especially in the context of vaccine design.
Present in approximately 1,200 coronavirus genetic sequencing
Both the Caltech researchers and Columbia University in New York published their work this week on the biorxiv and medrxiv prepress servers respectively. In them, they describe their findings on the new variant of the coronavirus in New York on a weekly basis, but are still awaiting peer review for formal publication in magazines.
As we mentioned at the beginning, Caltech researchers detected the new variant in about a quarter of the 1,200 virus sequences reviewed this month. In addition, they detected it in nearby states such as New Jersey and Connecticut, but there have also been "isolated occurrences across the country."
The Columbia University researchers came to similar conclusions after examining about 1,100 virus samples from patients treated at the university's medical center; these also date from November of last year.
By the second week of February, 12 percent of the samples corresponded to the New York variant of the coronavirus. But this study also revealed that infected patients were more likely to be older and to have been hospitalized.
New York variant of coronavirus carries a vaccine-resistant mutation
But the finding that raised the most concern among health officials was a mutation with an apparently high potential to make the virus more resistant to vaccines. This same has also been observed in the variants that have arisen in other regions of the United States and other countries of the world.
And is that a variant detected in California has also been monitored in recent weeks. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has found it in between 40 and 50 percent of samples tested in the area. But, unlike the one in New York, it is not yet known whether it can carry the vaccine-resistant mutation.
For now, New York health officials have tried to assuage concerns about the new strain of the coronavirus. "Some variants are just that, they are variants," said Dr. Jay Varma, the mayor's senior health advisor.
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