The discovery of mysterious "hidden mutant" of Corona in America

Researchers have discovered at least four "hidden" mutants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes "Covid-19", in wastewater samples in New York City.

The latest Covid-19 mutant, from Delta to Omicron, has spread like wildfire around the world in recent months, prompting many scientists to wonder when the next mutant will appear.

Now, scientists may be one step closer to finding out.

A team of researchers from several research institutions, including virologist Mark Johnson, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Missouri, found at least four "hidden" mutants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in samples from sewage. General of New York City.

This has sparked new concerns that the new coronavirus is finding ways to escape immunity.

Their findings were recently published in the journal Nature.

And the mutant doesn't seem poised to explode and cause a new mutation at this point.

The alarming thing is that scientists don't know where the new viral strains come from.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 can constantly evolve by acquiring mutations.

Mutants, such as 'delta' or 'omicron', may contain one or more mutations in their viral sequence that help distinguish themselves from other SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Johnson believes the findings suggest that the "hidden" mutations they identified in New York City could be linked to possible animal origins.

While these origins have not yet been verified, it is believed that one possible source could be rats that frequented New York City's sewer system.

The idea for this project was launched in March 2020 after John Dennehy, a virologist and professor of biology at Queen's College, City University of New York, began researching different ways to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Monica Trujillo, associate professor at CUNY Queensboro Community College, shared with Dennehy a study from Australia that used wastewater to track the spread of the coronavirus, and inspired Trujillo to ask officials from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to send her wastewater samples for action. similar.

Since then, the researchers have expanded their efforts, testing sewage from all 14 of the city's sewage treatment plants twice a month, eventually building a record spanning from January 2021 to the present.

"The mutations we were observing in our sample were not typical among any of the known sequences circulating at the time," Dennehy said.

The scientists studied the four mysterious mutants, named WNY1, WNY2, WNY3 and WNY4.

They found that all had the ability to partially or completely evade the antibodies that easily block the original SAR-CoV-2 virus.

While blood plasma from people who have been vaccinated or with previous infections can partially neutralize all four strains, this neutralization was reduced compared to the original virus.

Johnson explained: "When we first started with samples from New York City, I was looking to see if they had the same virus sequences that I saw in some of my samples from St. Louis. They were different, but they each had similar mutations in common at a particular place on the virus, like Q498. The surprising thing is that in most samples from New York City, the Q in Q498 turned into a Y. And if you look at the database, there was no human patient with this mutation."

Dennehy believes that a possible explanation could be a biological process called "convergent evolution."

He explained, "No animal in Missouri will mix with the same type of animal in New York City. Therefore, the evolution of the virus in each geographical area is independent of the other, but because it is the same animal, the virus looks the same in both places. For example, we think The conditions in South Africa gave rise to the Omicron variant, the same conditions in New York City that gave rise to our cryptic variants.As a biologist, I thought delta spread was dangerous, but the speed with which Omicron took over New York City was on another level. ".

Davida Smith, research co-author, and deputy director of the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement said: “Wastewater monitoring is really important in the context of community public health measures where we have the ability to communicate health information at a level where decisions, practices and interventions can be implemented. Wastewater monitoring is rapid. It is inexpensive and unbiased, which is why we have the ability to implement based on resource availability in a variety of contexts, particularly in areas with limited resources such as low testing and vaccine availability."

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