The coronavirus variant first identified in the UK is now spreading widely in the United States and experts believe it may be the dominant form of the virus in March. There is evidence that it leads to more viruses in the nose, which may be why it is more transmissible.
Although there are now millions of people vaccinated, we still don’t know how much the virus is replicating in them or whether it is low enough to prevent it from spreading to others.
The experts also express some concern about vaccine resistance or escape from the vaccine. This is a very rare case when a variant of the pathogen is not affected by the vaccine and can infect and cause illness in the person.
Most evidence suggests that this may not be happening yet, although some data from South Africa suggests that the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine is less effective against the variant there. “At the moment, it is very difficult to examine laboratory data and predict what will happen in humans,” writes viral immunologist Sarah L. Caddy in The conversation. “First, we don’t know the minimum number or ‘titer’ of effective antibodies needed to protect someone from the virus.”
A patient’s story can help scientists better understand what the virus does in our bodies and how it is changing. A 45-year-old man had an infection that lasted five months in 2020. Unlike others who can transmit the virus and show persistent symptoms, this patient has had an active virus in his body for that entire period of time, reports NPR.
Scientists can observe samples taken periodically from the patient and compare them. If the virus was mutating in the patient’s body, they should be able to see it.
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And in this case, they did. “I was shocked,” said Jonathan Li of Harvard Medical School, according to NPR. “When I saw the virus sequences, I knew that we were dealing with something completely different and potentially very important.”
The patient had a compromised immune system, which experts believe was the reason the virus persisted. A newspaper in the New England Journal of Medicine narrates his illness and the analyzes that resulted from the study of his samples. The length of time that the virus was able to survive in the patient’s body may have been a factor that allowed him to undergo so many mutations.
However, mutations do not always lead anywhere. It is a normal process that all viruses go through without intention. Therefore, more mutations does not necessarily mean that a more deadly, more transmissible or significantly different virus will emerge. And it can be good for vaccines. “On a more reassuring note, scientists widely agree that some virus mutations are very unlikely to render current COVID vaccines useless,” writes Caddy. “However, mutations can make these vaccines less effective in general.”
Experts are hopeful that vaccines can be adapted to help deal with variants, especially with messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, which can be easily adjusted and updated. Research groups and vaccine developers we are already working on this issue, but it may take some time to release the new versions.
For updated information on COVID-19, check the websites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. For updated global case counts, check this page maintained by Johns Hopkins University or the COVID tracking project.
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