A new variant of coronavirus identified in South Africa was found in the United States for the first time, with two cases diagnosed in South Carolina, state health officials said on Thursday.
The variant, which recently emerged in South Africa after first being found in the United Kingdom, has been confirmed in two samples from South Carolina tested by the CDC.
Experts said that existing vaccines will work to protect against this variant, even though it is not known exactly how effective the vaccines are. While this variant is believed to spread more easily, there is no evidence to suggest that variant B.1.351 causes more serious illness, DHEC said in a press release.
The two cases do not appear to be connected. The patients, both adults, live in different parts of the state and neither has a history of recent travel, said the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
“This is scary,” because it means there may be more undetected cases in the state, said Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease physician at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. “It is probably more widespread.”
The arrival of this variant now appearing in other countries shows that “the fight against this deadly virus is far from over,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, acting director of public health at the state agency, in a statement. “Although more COVID-19 vaccines are on the way, supplies are still limited. Each of us must commit to the fight again, recognizing that we are all on the front lines now. We are all in this together. “
Viruses are constantly mutating, with variants of the coronavirus circulating around the globe, but scientists are mainly concerned with the emergence of three of them. Other variants that were first reported in the UK and Brazil have been previously confirmed in the USA. Researchers believe that the three variants can spread more easily and predicted that it would only be a matter of time before they appeared here.
In addition, scientists reported worrying preliminary signs last week that some of the recent mutations may reduce the effectiveness of the current two vaccines, although they emphasized that the vaccines still protect against the disease. And there are signs that some of the new mutations may not be detected by tests for the virus and reduce the effectiveness of certain treatments.
The coronavirus has already made millions sick and killed more than 400,000 people in the United States.
Although some European countries do extensive genetic testing to detect these variants, the United States has done very little of that detective work. But scientists have been trying to do it faster and are identifying these seemingly more contagious variants as they do so.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported at least 315 cases of the variant discovered in the United Kingdom in the United States. These reports came from at least 28 states, and health officials believe it could become the dominant strain in the United States by March. This variant has been reported in at least 70 countries.
The first US case of the variant found for the first time in Brazil was announced earlier this week by health officials in Minnesota. The patient was a person who recently traveled to Brazil. This version of the virus appeared in more than half a dozen countries.
The variant found for the first time in South Africa was detected in October. Since then, it has been found in at least 30 other countries.
Some tests suggest that South African and Brazilian variants may be less susceptible to antibiotic drugs or antibody-rich blood from survivors of COVID-19, which help people fight the virus.
Health officials also fear that if the virus changes enough, people may receive COVID-19 a second time.
President Biden reinstated COVID-19 travel restrictions on Monday for most non-American travelers from Brazil, the United Kingdom and South Africa. And the CDC is recommending that Americans not travel at this time.