LONDON – Doctors began noticing the change last month as the new variant of the UK coronavirus spread. In the critical care units of the hospital, they saw more people and younger women with severe cases of Covid-19, a disease that previously inflicted its worst symptoms, mainly on patients and older men.
The change, now backed by statistical studies, is part of an urgent puzzle that worries British public health officials as they compete to understand a strain of the virus that is more transmissible and, according to some studies, could be more deadly than versions previous.
One of the first hypotheses, according to scientists, is that one of the genetic mutations in the virus makes it better to invade more cells inside the body, which causes serious diseases in people than with previous variants of Covid-19 would have had only mild or none symptoms.
David Strain, a doctor and instructor at the University of Exeter School of Medicine who is also treating patients with Covid-19, said the initial investigation draws a picture of a variant of the virus that is like a thief who has returned better and is entering and entering vulnerable cells. in this case, not the houses.
“We think that’s why it makes people sicker and more transmissible,” Dr. Strain said.