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The “Italian variant” discovered in Brescia “precedes the variant that appeared only at the end of September in the United Kingdom and then spread to Europe, including Italy”, says Arnaldo Caruso, president of the Italian Society of Virology, quoted by La Repubblica, reports Antena3.
The variant identified in Italy has mutations 501 and 493, which makes the Spike protein slightly different from that of the pandemic virus known so far.
The “Italian variant” came to be described by chance, Caruso says, after abnormal viral persistence in a patient who had Covid-19 in April. Even after recovery, tests since August have consistently yielded positive results.
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“We decided to sequence the virus to understand the reason for this persistence and, to our surprise, we realized that we had identified a new variant, similar but not identical to the English version that was beginning to circulate in Italy,” said the doctor.
“We do not know if the English version appeared exactly at the end of September, as well as ours at the beginning of August. An analysis tells us that this new Italian variant could have been generated at the beginning of July. What we can say from my studies colleague Ciccozzi is that ours is without a doubt the first test of the mutations of the protein Spike at the level of position 501 in Italy and perhaps, at least until now, in Europe ”, Caruso specified.
Asked if the anti-Covid vaccine can work in the “Italian version”, the doctor said that theoretically yes, because it generates a complex response in several areas.
“The high viral load present in the August and November tests performed on the non-negative patient allowed us to isolate the viral mutations in Brescia,” says Caruso.
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