In just a matter of weeks, the two types of coronavirus have become so familiar that you can regularly hear the names of their pronounced alphabets on television news.
B.1.1..7, first identified in Britain, demonstrated the power to spread far and wide. In South Africa, mutations called B1.511 can dodge human antibodies, giving an overview of the effectiveness of some vaccines.
Scientists are also keeping an eye on the third, which originates in Brazil, is called P1. Research on P1 has been slow since it was discovered in late December, leaving scientists with uncertainty about how much to worry about.
“I’m holding my breath,” said Bronwin McKinnis, an epidemiologist at the Broad Institute.
Now three studies provide a serious history of meteorite growth of P1 in the Amazonian city of Manz. It probably arose there in November and then became a recordbreaking spike in coronavirus cases. Research has shown that the city was dominated by contagious disease in some parts.
But it also acquired the ability to infect some people who had immunity from earlier stages of Covid-19. And laboratory experiments suggest that P1 may weaken the protective effect of the Chinese vaccine now used in Brazil.
The new study is yet to be published in scientific journals. Their authors warn that findings on cells in laboratories do not always translate into the real world, and they are only beginning to understand the behavior of P.1.
“These findings apply to the psyche, but I don’t know if they apply to other places,” said Nuno Faria, a virologist at Imperial College London, who helped advance the new research.
But, even with the secrets living around P1, experts say it’s a form of taking it seriously. Harvard T.H. “It’s worth worrying about P1, and this data gives us a reason,” said William Henaj, an epidemiologist at Chan School Public Health.
P.1 has now spread to the rest of Brazil and has been seen in 24 other countries. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported six cases in five states: Alaska, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota and Oklahoma.
To reduce the risks of P1 outbreaks and reflux, Dr. Faria said it is important to double every step we take to slow the spread of coronavirus. Masks and social distance can work against P.1. And vaccination can help reduce its transmission and protect those who are seriously infected.
“The final message is that you need to increase all vaccination efforts as soon as possible,” he said. “You need to be one step ahead of the virus.”
Last spring Brazil When an explosion occurred in Brazil, Dr. Faria and his colleagues began searching for the coronavirus. The city of Manaus, with a population of two million in the Brazilian Amazon, was particularly hit. At its peak in the spring time, Manaus cemeteries were littered with the bodies of the dead.
But after a peak in late April, Manus seems to have gone through the worst of the epidemic. Some scientists thought that the drop meant that the human herb had acquired immunity.
Dr. Faria and her colleagues were looking for coronavirus antibodies in Manos blood bank samples in June and October. They determined that about three-quarters of the population was infected.
But in late 2020, new cases began to appear again. Dr. “There were a lot more cases than the previous ones, which were in late April,” Faria said. “And that surprised us a lot.”
To find variants, Dr. Faria and his colleagues launched a new genome sequencing effort in the city. When B1.1..7 reached other parts of Brazil, they did not find it in Manaus. Instead, they found a variable that no one had seen before.
Many species in their samples shared a set of 21 mutations not seen in other viruses circulating in Brazil. Dr. Far. Faria sent a text message to a colleague: “I think I’m seeing something amiss, and I’m very worried about this.”
He was particularly concerned about a few changes, as scientists had already discovered them in B.1.1.7 or B.1.351. Experiments suggest that some mutation variables make cells more capable of infecting. Other mutations allow them to stay away from antibodies to previous infections or to be produced by the vaccine.
As Dr. Faria and his colleagues analyzed their results, Japanese researchers made a similar discovery. On January 4, four tourists returning home from a trip to the Amazon tested positive for coronavirus. From genome sequencing, Dr. Faria and his colleagues unveiled a similar set of changes we are seeing in Brazil.
Dr. Faria and her allies January. Posted a description of P1 on the virineline virology forum on the 12th. They then investigated why P.1 is common. His transformation could make him more contagious, or he could be lucky. By the sheer chance, the city was getting more relaxed about public action, just as Manaus would have seen this type.
It was also possible that p. 1 became normal because it can affect people again. In general, coronavirus rearrangements are rare, as antibodies produced by the body remain strong for months after infection. But it is possible that P1 undergoes mutations that made it difficult for those antibodies to harden on it, allowing it to cling to cells and bring on new infections.
Researchers tested these possibilities by finding P1 in its initial samples in December. As of early January, that percentage is 87 percent of the sample. By February it was fully occupied.
Combining data from genomes, antibodies and medical records in menus, the researchers concluded that P1 conquered the city thanks to biology, not luck: its transformation helped spread it. Like B.1.1..7, it can infect more people on average than other types. They estimate that it is 1.4 and 2.2 times more transmissible than other strains of coronavirus.
But it also acquires an edge of mutation that allows it to survive antibodies to other coronaviruses. They estimate that out of 100 people infected with manus last year, somewhere between 25 and 61 were re-infected by P1.
The researchers backed this conclusion in an experiment in which they mixed the P1 virus with antibodies from Brazilians who had Covid-19 last year. They found that the effectiveness of their antibodies against P1 was six times lower than that of other coronaviruses. That drop could mean that at least some people with P1 will be susceptible to new infections.
Dr. “There seems to be a growing body of evidence that suggests that most of the cases associated with the second wave are actually of refraction,” Faria said.
Dr. Far. Faria and other researchers are now looking to Brazil to monitor the spread of P1. Dr Aster Sabino, an infectious disease specialist at the University of So Paulo School of Medicine and Medicine, said a new outbreak had occurred in the Brazilian city of Araraquara, where 223,000 people did not have high rates of Covid-1 before P1. Arrived.
If the people of Ararakwara had not had high doses of antibodies before the advent of PR, she said, it would have suggested that the variable had spread to places without an extreme history of manus. “This could happen somewhere else,” he said.
Michael Warobe, a virologist at the University of Arizona, who was not involved in the research, said it was time to focus on P1 in the United States. He expects it to become more common in the United States, although he will have to compete with B1.1.7, which could soon become a major part of the nation.
“Very soon, he’s going to be a contender,” said Dr. Worrobe.
In their experiments, Dr. Faria and his colleagues also tested the antibodies of eight people who received the Chinese-made vaccine Coronavak, used in Brazil. They found that the antibodies produced by the vaccine were less effective in blocking the P1 variant than other types.
Dr. Faria warned that the results, obtained from test tube cells, did not mean the vaccine would be less effective in protecting real people from P1. Vaccines can provide very good protection against P.1, even if the antibodies they produce are not quite powerful. And even if the variant infects people with the vaccine, they will still avoid serious fights with Covid-19.
D Sab. For Sabino, the ultimate significance of P1 is the threat that while they can pop up anywhere in the world, they also do different types of p.
“It’s just a matter of time and opportunity,” he said.
