[ad_1]
It is not yet certain whether the new variant of the coronavirus discovered in UK it is more contagious, but the United States is conducting studies to learn more, a senior US official said Monday.
“There is no solid evidence that this virus is more transmissible, (but) there is clear evidence that it is more present in the population,” he said. Moncef slaoui, chief advisor to the vaccination program in the United States.
The scientist, vaccine expert and former pharmaceutical executive, expects laboratory experiments to show that the new strain responds to existing vaccines and treatments.
As several countries close their borders to the UK, Slaoui said the variant may have been prevalent for a long time in that country, but scientists have only just started looking for it, creating the impression of a spike in infections.
“It may be that the infections have happened without our knowing it and now we are perceiving an increase, or perhaps it has a greater transmissibility,” he said.
“What is clear is that (the new variant) is not more pathogenic,” he stressed, which means that it has not been shown to cause a more serious disease.
On the issue of contagion, to determine cause and effect, it would be necessary to carry out experiments with animals housed in the same place and deliberately infect them, he said.
This would show the level of viral load required to infect another animal.
The National Health Centers (NIH) are already conducting laboratory studies on the variant of the coronavirus, to determine whether antibodies against the most dominant strain of covid-19 will be effective against it, Slaoui explained.
“It is very likely to be the expected result,” he said.
[ad_2]
