A new and more infectious strain of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus has been detected in England over the past week. By infectious, the …
A new and more infectious strain of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus has been detected in England over the past week. By infectious, the virus is spreading far more easily although the new strain does appear to produce worst symptoms. Although only making headlines towards the end of December 2020, the new coronavirus strain appears to have been around since November, especially in the southeast of England and within the London area. The point of origin, or at least where the first case was detected, appears to be the county of Kent. Within a few weeks the virus is responsible for around 60 percent of all recent infections The variant has arisen through a mutation. Specifically there is a mutation in the receptor binding domain of the spike protein. This occurs at position 501. The mutation is the product of where the amino acid asparagine has been replaced with tyrosine. For this reason, the mutation is coded N501Y. The variant has several other mutations, although the position 501 mutation is the most clinically significant. The mutation affects the part of the virus that connects to the ACE2 cells that line the human lung, and of which are the primary route of infection. It is uncertain why the new variant has emerged. One possibility is that the virus is that the mutation is a logical adaptation to become a better fit to spread in humans. What is of interest, and consequentially concern, to scientists is the pace at which the rare strain has become a common strain. By being more infectious, this is a product of increased viral load, tissue distribution of virus replication, and serial interval. Other factors include the age profile of the cases and the overall disease severity.
