Aug 31, 2021, 00:02 am
A group of nearly three dozen researchers in South Africa have discovered a new Covid-19 ‘variant of interest’ which they fear may be more contagious and resistant to coronavirus-fighting antibodies than its predecessors.
The new strain, which actually consists of multiple mutations of the virus and collectively known as C.1.2, was identified by researchers at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform. It was first detected in South Africa in May 2021, and to have since popped up in countries across the globe, including China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, New Zealand, the UK, Portugal and Switzerland.
In a paper posted to medRxiv.org, a server which hosts medical studies before they are published in peer-reviewed medical journals, the scientists carefully explained that the new lineage has “been associated with escape from certain class 3 neutralizing antibodies,” i.e. the protection provided either naturally or with the help of vaccines, against the coronavirus.
The C.1.2 lineage is also said to have a mutation rate of about 41.8 per year, almost double that expressed by other variants.
C.1.2 is said to be evolved from C.1, one of several lineages which dominated the first wave of SARS-Cov-2 infections in South Africa, and which was last detected in the country in January of 2021. The new lineage “has since been detected across the majority of the provinces in South Africa and in seven countries spanning Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania,” the paper noted, specifying that the mutations include multiple substitutions and deletions of genetic code within the spike protein – the means used by the coronavirus to enter human cells, potentially to make it heartier and more difficult to neutralize.
Researchers fear that this particular strain of the variant may be more widespread than believed, based on consistent increases of the number of C.1.2 genomes in South Africa on a monthly basis, similar to increases which were observed in both the Beta and Delta variants as they spread.
South African scientists also discovered the beta variant in 2020, but have been keen to stress that the country’s advanced ability to sequence the genomes of the virus means that while new strains may be identified in the country, they could have originated elsewhere.
https://sputniknews.com/science/20210829...-of-covid/
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/busines...422313.php
The new strain, which actually consists of multiple mutations of the virus and collectively known as C.1.2, was identified by researchers at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform. It was first detected in South Africa in May 2021, and to have since popped up in countries across the globe, including China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, New Zealand, the UK, Portugal and Switzerland.
In a paper posted to medRxiv.org, a server which hosts medical studies before they are published in peer-reviewed medical journals, the scientists carefully explained that the new lineage has “been associated with escape from certain class 3 neutralizing antibodies,” i.e. the protection provided either naturally or with the help of vaccines, against the coronavirus.
The C.1.2 lineage is also said to have a mutation rate of about 41.8 per year, almost double that expressed by other variants.
Quote:“Of greater concern is the accumulation of additional mutations…which are also likely to impact neutralization sensitivity or furin cleavage and therefore replicative fitness,” the paper warned, referring to the virus’s ability to evade antibodies, as well as its contagiousness.
Quote:The mutations on the virus “are associated with increased transmissibility” and an increased ability to evade antibodies, the scientists said. “It is important to highlight this lineage given its concerning constellation of mutations.”
C.1.2 is said to be evolved from C.1, one of several lineages which dominated the first wave of SARS-Cov-2 infections in South Africa, and which was last detected in the country in January of 2021. The new lineage “has since been detected across the majority of the provinces in South Africa and in seven countries spanning Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania,” the paper noted, specifying that the mutations include multiple substitutions and deletions of genetic code within the spike protein – the means used by the coronavirus to enter human cells, potentially to make it heartier and more difficult to neutralize.
Researchers fear that this particular strain of the variant may be more widespread than believed, based on consistent increases of the number of C.1.2 genomes in South Africa on a monthly basis, similar to increases which were observed in both the Beta and Delta variants as they spread.
South African scientists also discovered the beta variant in 2020, but have been keen to stress that the country’s advanced ability to sequence the genomes of the virus means that while new strains may be identified in the country, they could have originated elsewhere.
https://sputniknews.com/science/20210829...-of-covid/
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/busines...422313.php