COTW: Mutant Viruses

These charts from the science journal, Nature, show the number of genetic sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus provided to a global database. The South African varient (501.Y.V2) is more virulent that the original, able to reinfect persons who have recovered from a previous COVID-19 infection and presumably have antibodies still in their circulatory system. There are also indications that avaiable vaccines are less effective agains this strain.

This discovery of this variant underscores the important role genomic sequencing plays in monitoring virus mutations. Only a few mutations of a virus infecting humans prove problematic, so some surveilance mechansim must be set up to categorize variants. When researchers at Eastern Cape noticed a suspiciously high number of COVID-19 infections in South Africa they created a database of genomic sequences on a random basis. Combing through their data, they discovered a variant that accounted for 90% of the new infections in some regions. The variant has eight mutations of the spike protein that unlocks several types of human cells and allows the virus to take control and replicate itself.

British virologists used a similar but much larger database of mutations set up in a few weeks to uncover B.1.1.7, a variant that has increased infection rates alarmingly in the UK. Coronaviruses mutate slowly compared with influenza, so it was a tough sell to convince public health authorities to fund a program that could end up collecting a lot of useless information. But the investment of $27 million has proved worthwhile as vaccine manufacturers are modifying their vaccines* to better counteract the new virus mutations.

Because of the Untied States' capitalistic adherence to for-profit, private health care, its efforts to set up a national database of virus variants has been less successful. There is a program called SPHERES, which hopes to enlist the aid of private organizations to report gene sequencing, but that voluntary system has not evolved into a national database available to all medical establishments. Most gene sequencing in the US is done at academic institutions for research purposes, not public health emergencies. Genomic coverage overall is low and varies from state to state. The number of SARS-CoV-2 genomes that the United States has shared on GISAID is less than 0.3% of its total number of COVID-19 infections. That compares with nearly 5% for the United Kingdom, 12% for Denmark, and almost 60% for Australia, all countries with robust socialized healthcare systems.

USCOVID-19 DEATHS (est.): 450,000

 

 

*The British medical journal, Tne Lancet, announced that the Russian developed vaccine, Sputnik 5, has proven 92% effective in clinical trials. Russia received criticism from western authorities for administering its vaccine before clinical trials were completed. High profile individuals including Putin's daughter received the vaccine without serious incident. The Russian vaccine, which does not require extreme refrigeration and is popular in Latin America and Asia, is the fifth effective vaccine to be developed in a short period of time.