A case of a new virus first detected in India was identified in the San Francisco Bay area last week and seven other cases are expected.
The Stanford Health Care Clinical Virology Laboratory has detected the variant and believes it is the first instance identified in the United States, according to KRON.
The variant found in India has a combination of two mutations in the spiny protein that have been identified in other variants: the L452R mutation first detected in California, which is believed to be 20% more transmissible, and the E484Q, dominant in Brazil.
The virus mutated during the pandemic. Most mutations are trivial, but scientists are investigating which ones can make the virus spread more easily or make people sick. Variants first detected in South Africa, Great Britain, Brazil and California have been designated as “concern variants” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All of these variants were detected in the Bay Area.
Initial research suggests that vaccines offer protection against new variants, although they may be slightly less effective and more research is needed.
The variant from India was detected mainly in the state of Maharashtra, and the Ministry of Health said in a statement that it was found in 15% to 20% of the sequenced samples in that region.
There is no definitive evidence that it is more transmissible, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF, told KCBS on Monday morning.
“My instinct is that vaccines will work against this Indian variant,” said Chin-Hong. “Last week, we obtained data that Pfizer works against the South African variant. Being somewhat similar, I hope it works well.”
Stanford researchers have examined hundreds of viral samples collected from people across the bay area and are sequencing entire viral genomes to identify new mutations as they appear in major viral proteins.
“In most cases, it is too early to say whether or how these variants will influence the course of the pandemic, but it is important to monitor its evolution and spread,” Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, associate professor of pathology and infectious diseases at the School of Medicine, said in a statement. “Our surveillance test is specifically designed to allow large-scale screening of viral samples to identify specific strains that circulate in the bay area and throughout California.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.