Nine times infectious: a new strain of coronavirus is spreading in the US and Europe

A global study found strong evidence that a new form of coronavirus has spread from Europe to the United States. On Thursday, July 2, an international team of researchers reported that a new mutation increases the likelihood of people becoming infected with the virus, but does not seem to make their condition worse than with earlier versions of the virus, writes CNN.

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“This is now the dominant form infecting people,” said Erica Ollmann Sapphire of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and the Coronavirus Immunotherapy Consortium, who has worked on its study.

The study, published in Cell magazine, builds on earlier team work published earlier this year. General information on genetic sequences indicated that a particular mutant version of the virus takes effect.

Now the team not only checked more genetic sequences, but also carried out experiments involving people, animals and cells in laboratory dishes, which show that the mutant version is more common and more contagious than other versions.

“We know that the new virus is more adaptable. At first glance, it doesn’t look any worse,” says Sapphire.

The mutation affects the residual protein, a structure that the virus uses to enter the cells it infects. Researchers are now testing whether this affects the ability to control the virus with a vaccine. The vaccines currently being tested mostly target the virus's spike protein, but they have been studied using older strains of the virus.

Experts call the new mutation G614 and show that it almost completely replaced the first version, common in Europe and the USA, under the name D614.

Does not affect patient survival

“Our global tracking data shows that the G614 variant is spreading faster than D614,” biologist Bette Korber of Los Alamos National Laboratory wrote in her report. “We interpret this to mean that the virus is likely to be more contagious. Interestingly, we found no evidence of an effect of G614 on disease severity."

That could be good news, said Lawrence Young, a professor of medical oncology at Warwick University, UK, who was not involved in the study.

“Current work suggests that although the G614 variant may be much more infectious, it is not more pathogenic. It is hoped that as SARS-CoV-2 infection spreads, the virus may become less pathogenic,” the statement said.

The team tested samples from patients throughout Europe as well as the United States and sequenced genomes. They compared these genome sequences to what was published. A comparison of these sequences helped them map the distribution of the two forms.

“Prior to March 1, 2020, the G614 variant was rare outside Europe, but at the end of March its frequency increased worldwide,” the experts wrote.

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They found that even when the D614 form caused a massive epidemic everywhere, in places like Wales and Nottingham in England, as well as in Washington state, the G614 immediately became dominant as soon as it appeared.

“The increase in G614 frequency continues despite stay-at-home orders and 14-day stay-at-home orders,” the scientists added.

There are a few exceptions, including Santa Clara, California, Iceland, where the older D614 form was never replaced by the newer G.

Three to nine times infectious

Researchers say the new version appears to replicate more quickly in the upper respiratory tract—the nose, sinuses and throat—which explains why it spreads more easily.

Tests of 1000 hospitalized patients with coronavirus in the UK showed that those infected with the new version quickly picked up the strain.

David Montefiore of Duke University and his colleagues tested the virus in a laboratory.

"We were able to test whether the G form of the virus was more infectious than the D form," said Montefiore, director of the AIDS Vaccine Research and Development Laboratory.

“All the results confirmed that form G was three to nine times more infectious than form D,” he added. “We now have experimental data that partially confirms what Bette Korber saw in her analysis of sequences around the world—form G has an advantage in terms of infectivity.”

Laboratory tests of the virus in action confirmed what the genetic maps showed.

“These results confirm that the newer form of the virus may be even more easily transmitted than the original one. Whether this finding is ultimately confirmed, it highlights the value of what were already good ideas: wearing masks and maintaining social distancing,” Korber said.

Other mutations often accompany the G614 mutation, but it is unclear what effect they have. The G614 mutation can be neutralized by serum, a blood product taken from people who have recovered from coronavirus infection, says Sapphire. Her team tested blood donated by six people who had recovered from coronavirus infection in San Diego.

“We looked at whether the spectrum of antibodies in people's blood was as effective at neutralizing the new virus as the old one. “He did it, even a little better,” she said. “It was a relief.”

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Researchers were worried that if a new mutation caused the virus to spread faster and reached higher levels of infection in the body, it would take more effort on the part of the immune system to neutralize it.

“That wasn’t the case for these six San Diego residents,” Sapphire said.

To consolidate the data and understand what these changes mean for the epidemic and for patients, additional work needs to be done, the researchers note.

“There are potential implications for vaccines. We are actively studying these possible consequences,” Montefiore said.

And, of course, scientists follow other mutations.

“We could have dodged a bullet with this particular mutation,” Sapphire reasons. “However, this does not mean that another mutation cannot appear on top of this one,” she assures. “We must remain vigilant.”

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