The Bay Area has yet another coronavirus variant to contend with.
Through genomic sequencing, the Stanford Clinical Virology Lab identified and confirmed a case of an emerging variant that originated in India, said Lisa Kim, a spokeswoman for Stanford Health Care, on Sunday. Stanford is examining seven other suspected cases; the location of the confirmed case has not been disclosed.
The variant is being dubbed a “double mutant” because it carries two mutations in the virus that help it to cling to cells. It may be responsible for the new worrying increase in cases in India. Kim said it remains to be seen whether the variant is more infectious or resistant to the vaccine’s antibodies.
Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF, said it appears that the variant may be more infectious because it accounts for 20% of cases in the heavily affected state of Maharashtra. Chin-Hong said the cases increased by more than 50% there last week.
“It also makes sense that it is more biologically transmissible, since the two mutations act in the domain of binding to the virus receptor, but there have been no official transmission studies so far,” he wrote by email.
Chin-Hong said it is too early to say whether the variant is more resistant to the vaccine’s antibodies or can cause reinfections, but one of the mutations in the variant is similar to one found in the variants first detected in Brazil and South Africa, and the other mutation is also found in a variant first detected in California.
“This Indian variant contains two mutations in the same virus for the first time, seen previously in separate variants,” he said. “As we know that the affected domain is the part that the virus uses to enter the body, and that the California variant is already potentially more resistant to some antibodies in the vaccine, it seems that there is a chance that the Indian variant will do it too . “
He said that so far no study has confirmed any of this. Still, Chin-Hong said it appears that this variant may be more regional, as variant B.1.1.7 that originated in the United Kingdom is the most dominant strain in India. And while it is uncertain whether the variant is resistant to vaccines, he is “optimistic” that vaccination will work, given what is known about its effectiveness against variants originating in South Africa and California.
The latest discovery adds to the list of worrying variants that have reached the United States, including the widespread B.1.1.7. variant, which is 50% more infectious. The P.1 strain originating in Brazil and a variant from South Africa were found in the bay area and both are believed to be resistant to vaccines.
There are many cases across the state of variants originating in California that are more infectious and may be resistant to vaccines, and some from New York identified in Santa Clara County that may also be potentially resistant to the vaccine.
Kellie Hwang is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @KellieHwang