In the U.S., the first case of infection with the Indian strain of coronavirus with a double mutation was recorded, as the San Francisco Chronicle agency reported.
Through genomic sequencing, the Stanford Clinical Virology Lab has identified and confirmed one case of an emerging variant that originated in India, according to lab director Dr. Benjamin Pinsky. The lab is screening seven other presumptive cases and should have the results early this week, he said.
The variant is being dubbed the “double mutant” because it carries two mutations in the virus that helps it latch itself onto cells. It could possibly be responsible for the troubling new surge in cases in India. It is not yet known if the variant is more infectious or resistant to vaccine antibodies. One of the mutations, E484Q, is similar to the E484K mutation found on both of the variants first detected in Brazil and South Africa. The other mutation, L452R, is also found in a variant first detected in California. Pinsky said both mutations could possibly reduce neutralization by antibodies, therefore making vaccinations less effective against the strain.
Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, said it appears the variant could be more infectious because it accounts for 20% of cases in the heavily hit state of Maharashtra. Chin-Hong said cases have increased more than 50% there in the past week.
“This Indian variant contains two mutations in the same virus for the first time, previously seen on separate variants,” Chin-Hong said. “Since we know that the domain affected is the part that the virus uses to enter the body, and that the California variant is already potentially more resistant to some vaccine antibodies, it seems to reason that there is a chance that the Indian variant may do that too.”