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- The new SARS-CoV-2 variants from the UK and South Africa are different, but both make the virus stickier and both have more genetic variations than previously observed variants.
- There is no evidence that current mutations make available vaccines less effective
- But if the variant is allowed to spread and evolve, that could compromise the effect of the vaccine, one scientist warned.
- For more articles, go towww.BusinessInsider.co.za.
New variants of the virus that cause Covid-19 in the UK and South Africa are different, but have a similar mutation that makes them stickier, scientists say. And this is not the first time they have seen it.
On Monday, both South Africa and the United Kingdom were enraged under tighter restrictions, following the detection of new variants. Many countries have stopped flights to and from the two countries. And the UK variant has now been detected in Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia and Gibraltar, Sky News reports.
“They are definitely different, but they have two things in common,” says Dr. Richard Lessells, infectious disease specialist and group leader at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) at the University of KwaZulu. Native. One is that the variants (or lineages) have more new mutations than previously seen in the SARS-CoV-2 lineages.
“This lineage differs by between 20 and 40 mutations from the original Wuhan virus and 20 mutations from South African viruses sequenced in early September,” said Jinal Bhiman, senior medical scientist at the NICD. Business Insider SA.
READ | Here’s what you need to know about the new coronavirus variant, now confirmed in SA
In South Africa, there has been anecdotal evidence that the variant has been causing younger people and healthy people to contract a more severe form of Covid-19. Sciences reports. However, Bhiman says, “We don’t know how [or] whether these variants cause different disease outcomes yet, but we are urgently investigating this. ”
The UK variant (called B.1.1.7) has 17 new mutations.
The second point in common between the UK and South African variants is a specific mutation in the virus genome, N501Y, Lessells says.
“N501Y” refers to the location in the genome that encodes the distinctive “spike protein” of the virus. This spiny outer surface is how the virus attaches itself to human cells. “The virus seems to be able to stick more easily with this change in the virus,” says Lessel; s.
However, this is not the first time that scientists have observed a mutation in N501Y. “An examination of the GISAID SARS-COV-2 global sequence database (a global initiative sharing genome data) shows that this N501Y mutation was circulating, sporadically, much earlier in the year outside the UK: in Australia in June-July USA in July and in Brazil in April 2020, ”said Dr. Julian Tang, Honorary Associate Professor and Clinical Virologist at the University of Leicester.
“Whether or not these viruses were brought to the UK and Europe later by travelers or they arose spontaneously in multiple locations around the world (in response to immunological selection pressures from the human host) requires further investigation.”
Lessells believes that the virus is predisposed to mutate at this point in its genome. “In Australia, that was not the same as this virus that we are seeing now, they just had this mutation in common, nothing more,” he says. “Like the UK, it is definitely different. It suggests that the virus is more likely to develop mutations at this position. “
NICD’s Bhiman says: “In Australia, a virus with the common mutation found in the South African and UK lineages was detected, however this virus was unable to spread because it was effectively contained.”
Lessells points out that the Australian example also shows that these mutations can be stopped. “It disappeared, it did not circulate for a long time, and that is important because it shows that the spread of this virus can still be stopped…. With a good public health response and following preventive measures, we stop the spread, we stop the evolution ”.
There is also no evidence that this alteration in the spike protein makes the vaccines less effective.
The two main vaccines specifically target this spike protein, however experts, including Lessells, do not believe this will affect their efficacy.
“The important thing about vaccines is that they induce antibodies that target different parts of that spike protein,” Lessells explains. “If you have a change in a position, it may not affect the response to the vaccine. But … if we allow the virus to continue to spread and evolve, it is more likely that, over time, changes will occur that could compromise the effect of the vaccine. “
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