A new and highly contagious Crown virus variant first identified in South Africa has been found in the United States for the first time, with two cases diagnosed in South Carolina, state health officials reported Thursday. The two cases do not appear to be connected, nor do people have a history of recent travel, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said.
“This is terrifying,” because it means there are likely to be more undetected cases in the state, said Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease physician at South Carolina Medical University in Charleston. “It’s probably more widespread.”
The arrival of that variant which now rises in other countries shows that “the fight against this deadly virus is far from over,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, interim director of public health for the South Carolina agency, in a statement. “While there are more vaccines against COVID-19 on the way, supplies remain limited. Each of us must start the fight again recognizing that we are now all in the front line. We are all together.”
The two people infected with this variant are adults; one comes from South Carolina’s Lowcountry and the other from the Pee Dee region, the state said, while withholding other information to protect its privacy.
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Viruses are constantly mutating, and coronavirus variants are circulating around the world, but scientists are primarily concerned about the recent appearance of three of them. Other variants first detected in the file United Kingdom The United States has also confirmed Brazil and Brazil Researchers believe these three variants can spread more easily and predicted it would only be a matter of time before they appeared here.
“At this time, we have no evidence that infections with this variant cause more serious diseases,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement. “Like the UK and Brazil variants, preliminary data suggest that this variant may be spread more easily and quickly than other variants. “
In addition, scientists reported preliminary but worrying signs last week that some of the recent mutations may modestly reduce the strength of two current vaccines, though they stressed that the shots still protect against the disease. And there are signs that some of the new mutations may undermine virus testing and reduce the effectiveness of certain treatments.
The coronavirus has already made millions ill and killed more than 400,000 people in the United States.
Although some European countries do extensive genetic testing to detect these variants, the US has done very little of this detective work. But scientists have tried to do it faster and are seeing these seemingly more contagious variants.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported at least 315 cases of the variant discovered in the United Kingdom in the United States. These reports come from at least 28 states and health officials believe it could become the dominant strain in the United States in March. This variant has been reported in at least 70 countries.
The first U.S. case of the variant that was originally found in Brazil was announced earlier this week by health officials. Minnesota. He was a person who recently traveled to that South American nation. This version of the virus has appeared in more than half a dozen countries.
The variant first found in South Africa was detected there in October. It has since been found in at least 30 more countries.
Some evidence suggests that South African and Brazilian variants may be less susceptible to antibody medications or antibody-rich blood plasma treatment of COVID-19 survivors, which help people fight the virus.
Health officials are also concerned that if the virus changes enough, more people could get COVID-19 a second time.
President Biden was reinstated on Monday Restrictions on travel on the covid-19 to most non-U.S. citizens traveling from Brazil, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Americans not travel at this time.