Northwestern Medicine researchers said they first identified P.1. variant, which was found for the first time earlier this year in travelers from Brazil during a screening at Tokyo airport. The Brazilian variant has already been found in several other countries.
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“We identified it through our research program after mutations in the virus over time in the Chicago area,” said Dr. Egon Ozer, assistant professor of infectious disease medicine at Northwestern and physician at Northwestern Medicine.
Northwestern said that when the Chicago Department of Public Health accompanied the individual, another person in the household was also not well with COVID-19. However, no one at the home reported traveling outside Illinois, the CDPH said.
Northwestern researchers said there is evidence to suggest that this variant may spread more easily than other circulating strains of COVID-19. There are also concerns that the mutated form of the virus will decrease the susceptibility of the virus to immunization by vaccination or previous infection.
“This means that if someone has already been infected with COVID-19, the immune system may not be able to effectively fight a second infection with this variant,” said Ozer. “There is also some concern that current vaccines may not be as effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 with this variant, although the degree to which they differ is unclear.”
A case of P.1. it was first identified in the United States in late January in Minnesota and has since been identified in several other states.
The UK and South Africa variants have already arrived here. In total, Illinois reported 88 known variant cases.