A highly suspected sample of COVID-19 found in Shelby County is the United Kingdom’s variant strain B.1.1.7, according to officials at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center.
The sample was sequenced at the regional campus bio-containment laboratory and sent to Nashville for confirmation.
“The hamburger is already made; they’re just putting some ketchup on it, ”said Dr. Scott Strome, executive dean of the University of Tennessee School of Medicine. “We have a variant of the United Kingdom.”
The sample has the genetic markers that correspond to the variant. It was detected in one of the local laboratories.
For weeks, Colleen Jonsson, head of the bio-containment laboratory, sequenced more than 100 samples of virus specimens from test sites across the city, looking for variants, particularly the four most contagious strains, including the UK strain.
In March, Dr. Jon McCullers expects considerable levels of the variant to be here.
“We are seeing a lot of variants. This is the first to match the UK variant, ”said McCullers.
“What I don’t know is whether there are any additional variations. It is likely that all UK variants out there are also starting to mutate and change a bit, ”he said.
Confirmation from a public health laboratory in Nashville or the Centers for Disease Control will take at least 24 hours.
The Shelby County Health Department was alerted Monday night. The specimen was sent to Nashville on Tuesday.
The strain is about three times more contagious, but it has not proven to be more fatal, according to David Sweat, deputy director of the Department of Health.
For weeks, laboratories using Thermo Fisher processing equipment have been able to quickly identify samples that mimic the UK strain. They are sent to UTHCS along with random samples from all test sites in the city.
They represent about 4% of the total tests now, a small sliver, which means that variant strains that are sweeping the world may already be in the region.
One clue is a drop in protein S, which the UK variant has. Several of the city’s major labs, including AEL, Compass and Poplar Healthcare, are prioritizing the workflow for Memphis samples to run on Thermo Fisher.
But there is no way of knowing whether the labs are seeing increases in the missing protein S, because there is no baseline to compare the numbers.
“Nobody was doing this before,” said Jim Sweeney, head of Poplar Healthcare. “We don’t know how many S drop-offs there were six months ago.
“There may be variants of other proteins as well. One way to help identify them quickly is if you see an S drop-off, ‘I may want to sequence this,’ ”he said.
Poplar Healthcare itself is setting up equipment to sequence suspicious samples, preparing to do 150-180 a week.
All laboratories in the city are aware of the importance of sequencing as well, he said.
“UT has a very good laboratory,” he said. “Colleen Jonsson’s laboratory does a remarkable job. They are a first class organization. “
The United States lags behind other developed nations in virus sequencing. In early January, it ranked 43rd in the world.
Having sequenced samples for comparison, including sequences from the beginning of the pandemic, helps researchers know if and where the virus is mutating.
“That’s how we were able to determine internationally what reinfections appear to be occurring,” said Dr. Stephen Threlkeld in an interview in January. “People needed to have sequenced the previous viruses and be able to compare them to the new infection virus three months later.”
The Department of Health and the joint task force COVID-19 have developed plans to respond to possible variant cases, including how it will manage contact tracking.
The most experienced researchers from the Department of Health will be assigned to these cases, if they materialize.
“It is something we definitely need to send to a team for special treatment,” said Sweat.
Other cases have been suspected here. When the DNA strands were sequenced, they turned out to be normal, he said.
The first line of defense against the virus and any variants is the masking, detachment and hand washing that citizens here have been doing since March.
“If enough people are vaccinated, then yes, it becomes primary prevention,” said Sweat.
“But at the moment, we are just over 7% of our target. We need to vaccinate 656,600 people in Shelby County to reach the goal of 70% of the population. “
This means that primary protections are safeguards, which include staying at home without working when you are ill. People placed under orders of isolation need to obey them.
“Stay at home for as long as you are infected and avoid contact with other people, even in your own home,” said Sweat. “If you have been identified as a contact for someone who is quarantined, go ahead and quarantine for the amount of time you were told to do. All of these things together can help us whether the virus we are dealing with is the strain we have been fighting since the last time or is a newly emerging strain. “