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FOCUS writes:


US researchers concerned: Dangerous and unassailable? New corona mutations are spreading rapidly in the USA

At the same time, Sars-CoV-2 mutations have appeared on the west and east coasts of the United States that are causing concern. The Californian variant seems to be more dangerous, the mutant in New York outwits the vaccination. And both are spreading very quickly.

It is in the nature of viruses that they do not stay the same for long. They change virtually with every transmission. They do this to adapt to any potential host and to ensure their maximum reproduction. In the case of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, at least 12,000 mutations were found after the first wave, none of which were of great importance.

In the meantime, however, mutations have emerged that have a significant impact on the pandemic. The mutants found in Great Britain, South Africa and Brazil have gained the upper hand over the original virus in many places. The mutations make it easier for the virus to penetrate human cells. They are definitely more contagious, and possibly also more dangerous for those infected in terms of the course of the disease and the risk of death. After all: The vaccines developed so far can apparently prevent infected people from becoming (seriously) ill even with the mutations.

Mutants common in California and New York

However, mutants have now emerged in the United States, adding to the great concern that vaccines will fail against them. Independently of each other, virus variants developed in California and New York that cause worry lines in virologists.

First, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Sars-CoV-2 variant called B1.427 / B1.429 is spreading rapidly in California. Still unknown in September, it was found in every second positive sample in January and will probably account for 90 percent of all infections in the state that is particularly badly affected by the pandemic by the end of March.

Worse than this high contagion dominance is the concern of scientists at the University of California at San Francisco that these mutations lead to more severe Covid-19 courses with higher mortality. Virologist Charles Chiu had been on the trail of the mutation since the end of last year.
Chiu now says that those infected had to go to the intensive care unit five times more often than Covid-19 patients with the original Sars-CoV-2 pathogen. The risk of death was eleven times as great. Other scientists do not yet want to share Chius' concern. The database of 324 patients would not allow such a dramatic conclusion.

Meanwhile, variant B1.526 is spreading in the New York region. Apart from the fact that it is also very contagious, it has a mutation that calls into question immunization after surviving Covid 19 disease or a vaccination.
Two research teams from the California Institute of Technology and Columbia University in New York independently discovered the E484K mutation in this variant. It is also known as the "escape mutation". Because of this change on their surface, the viruses can escape the antibodies that the immune system generates in response to the Sars-Cov-2 infection or the vaccination.

Reinfection by mutants is possible

Experts do not currently assume that this mutation will destroy immunization by the current vaccines. Richard Neher from the University of Basel said in the Süddeutsche Zeitung : "It is not yet a dramatic finding, because vaccinations are probably still very effective against serious illnesses." However, it is possible that people who are already using the original Sars -CoV-2 were infected, can infect with the mutant again. Such a reinfection would then probably be mild.

So far, the E484K mutation seems to occur wherever a large number of people have already been infected, such as in South Africa and Brazil before New York . Mutants with an "escape mutation" are on the rise in both countries.