Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
Important Takeaways:
- Bird flu may mutate to kill more than 50% of humans who catch it, as a result of ‘unprecedented’ outbreak sweeping mammals, experts fear
- Cases of killer H5N1 strain have already jumped from birds to foxes and mink
- It has sparked concern that pathogen is one step closer to spreading in humans
- Experts warn a new variant could arise that is ‘more harmful’ to humans
- So far the new virus has been detected in some 80 million birds and poultry globally
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PARIS (Reuters) – Scientists are investigating a new coronavirus variant that has been detected in Brittany in western France and may evade testing more successfully than other versions, the regional health authority said on Tuesday.
Eight cases of the new variant were identified in a cluster in a Brittany hospital. France’s health ministry said late on Monday that early analysis did not suggest the mutation was more contagious or more deadly than earlier versions of the virus.
“Investigations will take place to determine how this variant reacts to vaccination and to antibodies developed during prior COVID infections,” Brittany’s regional health authority said in a statement.
Scientists also want to understand if the variant can hide from testing after several of the patients delivered negative PCR tests and returned a positive result only from samples taken from blood or deep in the respiratory system.
Polymerase Chain Reaction tests are used to directly detect the presence of an antigen, rather than the presence of the body’s immune response, or antibodies.
International agencies have been alerted to the discovery of the new variant.
Brittany has so far avoided the brunt of the third wave of infections sweeping through France and other European countries, but the incidence rate is rising.
The seven-day moving average of infections per 100,000 inhabitants in Brittany stood at 132.9 on March 12 compared with 113 a week earlier. The incidence rate in Paris and its surrounds, where intensive care wards are near saturation, stands at 404 per 100,000.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Tom Hogue and Timothy Heritage)
(Reuters) – A specific mutation in the new coronavirus can significantly increase its ability to infect cells, according to a study by U.S. researchers.
The research may explain why early outbreaks in some parts of the world did not end up overwhelming health systems as much as other outbreaks in New York and Italy, according to experts at Scripps Research.
The mutation, named D614G, increased the number of “spikes” on the coronavirus – which is the part that gives it its distinctive shape. Those spikes are what allow the virus to bind to and infect cells.
“The number—or density—of functional spikes on the virus is 4 or 5 times greater due to this mutation,” said Hyeryun Choe, one of the senior authors of the study.
The researchers say that it is still unknown whether this small mutation affects the severity of symptoms of infected people, or increases mortality.
The researchers conducting lab experiments say that more research, including controlled studies – widely considered a gold standard for clinical trials, needs to be done to confirm their findings from test tube experiments.
Older research has showed that the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is mutating and evolving as it adapts to its human hosts. The D614G mutation in particular has been flagged as an urgent concern because it appeared to be emerging as a dominant mutation.
The Scripps Research study is currently undergoing peer review and was released on Friday amid reports of its findings.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru: Editing by Bernard Orr)
