One of the variants of COVID-19 originating abroad can be significantly more dangerous than the original strain, a new report published in the British Medical Journal suggests.
The UK strain, referred to as B.1.1.7, quickly gained prominence among new COVID-19 infections in the United Kingdom and is now present in other countries, including the USA
To better understand the mortality rate of the UK variant, a team of scientists used genomic sequencing on 54,906 volunteers matched with a positive test for COVID-19 between the beginning of October 2020 and the end of January 2021 in a study of corresponding cohort.
The purpose of the combined cohort study is to measure the response between an individual exposed to B.1.1.7 and an individual who has been exposed to a previous strain.
The patients were followed up for 28 days to observe the outcome of the infection by the virus.
The results showed that among patients infected with B.1.1.7, 227 died within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test. In the opposite group, who had not been diagnosed with the UK variant, 141 died.
This generated a higher risk ratio, or an increased risk of death, for patients with the UK variant COVID-19. Statistically, this has a very large margin of error, falling between an increase of 32% and an increase of 104% in risk.
Ultimately, the risk percentage is around 64%.
“The variant of the concern, in addition to being more transmissible, appears to be more lethal. We hope that this is associated with changes in their phenotypic properties because of multiple genetic mutations, “concludes the report,” and we see no reason why this finding is specific to the United Kingdom. “
The researchers further note that this increased risk of mortality may not be limited to the UK variant, saying that other mutations in South Africa and Brazil emphasize the potential of COVID-19 to evolve faster than humans can explain.
The absolute risk of death still remains relatively low, even with the new COVID-19 strain.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 3,283 confirmed cases of B.1.1.7 in the USA, in 49 jurisdictions.
A silver lining may be emerging that these new variants are circulating as COVID-19 vaccinations are becoming more widely accessible.
The question of whether vaccines made to fight an older strain of the virus will still fight a mutation has yet to be definitively answered, with some drugs ordered reports that Pfizer vaccines will work against new variants, while others say that vaccines can be “much less“Effective.