Of concern is the announcement by scientists that they have identified in Africa a new variant of the coronavirus, B.1.1.529, which carries an excessive number of mutations. So far, 10 cases have been confirmed, three in Botswana, where the new strain of the virus was first found, six in South Africa and one in Hong Kong (to a traveler returning from South Africa).
The researchers, led by Dr. Tom Pickock, a virologist at Imperial College London, made the announcement, according to the British Guardian and The Independent. will escape the body’s defenses.
The variant has 32 mutations in the coronavirus protein spike, which it uses to penetrate and infect human cells, which is the main target of vaccines. As Pickock said, “the incredibly large number of mutations in the spike protein suggests that this variant may be a source of real concern,” he said, adding that “it needs to be closely monitored because of its awesome spike protein profile.” He added, however, that it may eventually prove to be not very contagious.
On the other hand, Ravi Gupta, a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge, said his lab found that two of the mutations appeared to increase the virus’ ability to infect and reduce its ability to be recognized by antibodies. “It does seem to be worrying based on the mutations it has,” he said.
The first cases of the variant were reported in Botswana on November 11 and, three days later, were also detected in neighboring South Africa. At the same time, on November 13, the variant was found in a 36-year-old man in Hong Kong, who had traveled to South Africa earlier.
François Balot, Professor of Computational Biology, Director of the Institute of Genetics at University College London (UCL), estimated that the large number of mutations in the same variant may have accumulated over the course of a chronic infection in a weakly immunized HIV-infected patient. / AIDA that did not cure. He added, however, that “it is difficult to predict at this stage how contagious it is. At the moment it should be closely monitored and analyzed, but there is no cause for excessive concern unless it starts to increase in frequency in the near future.”
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