The Brazilian variant was first discovered in the city of Manaus and caused a major outbreak, which spread throughout the South American country • Even those who have already recovered were once again infected with the virus
The Brazilian mutation has spread across the country
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In April, the city suffered from the Brazilian Manaus, which sits on the Amazon, from a huge and severe outbreak of Corona virus.
The eruption caused widespread mortality and the collapse of health systems, but began to be forgotten as time went on.
Following this, the world of science thought that the city of two million inhabitants had the phenomenon of vaccinating the herd and at least for the near future it is protected from corona, but unfortunately - the scientists were greatly mistaken.
“In December an even bigger wave erupted here than the first wave and it also infected people who were supposed to be protected from the corona because they had already contracted it.
"In any case, this wave was really huge and it reduced the scale of the disaster we experienced in the first wave," says virus researcher Dr. Nuno Faria, who investigated what happened in the city of Manaus. More, the Brazilian mutation.
Until recently we heard less about this mutation and dealt mainly with the very contagious British and South African that apparently reduces the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Now, however, the Brazilian mutation has left the city of Manaus, spreading throughout the country and in 24 other countries around the world.
What is dangerous about the Brazilian mutation is the fact that three different studies that have been published, but have not yet been peer-reviewed, show that the virus in this version of it is able to overcome the Chinese vaccine that Brazil bought.
Bronwin McKinnis, an epidemiologist at the Broad Institute, notes that "the new studies have caused my breathing to stop."
However, both researcher McKinnsey and the authors of the study note that "there is still a difference between laboratory research and real-world results, but there is certainly room for over-vigilance in relation to the virus in this version of it."
"If we needed cause for concern then we found it. It is imperative to follow this mutation," said William Hang, an epidemiologist at Harvard University.
How was the new mutation discovered?
"When the second wave started in the city it was very strange to me, I thought it might be the British mutation so it is also found in people who have not been infected with the virus before, but when they sent me samples from the rest of the country the British mutation was completely different from what I saw in Manaus samples." R. Pariah: In parallel with the Brazilian researchers, researchers in Japan also identified the same mutation in four Japanese travelers returning from a trip to the Amazon.
At this point, Dr. Faria and his colleagues decided to test the virus. And there was no competition of any other mutation in the region.
Second, there was the possibility that changes in the genetics of P1 caused this condition.
"We tested it and saw two worrying things together: the new mutation is contagious at the level of 1.4-2.2 relative to the corona and in fact it is more contagious than the British version. Also out of 100 people who have been in Corona the group ranging from 25-61 has a chance to get the new mutation again. ", He says.
Other researchers in Brazil repeated the test and exposed P1 to antibodies that people had developed against the corona, and found that in relation to the new mutation, the antibodies were six times weaker than in a normal corona, indicating that even those infected with the virus could get it again.
Concern: The mutation has come out of Brazil
In fact, Dr. Faria believes that “most of those who contracted Manaus again were also sick in the first wave.
There was also a second wave of infections. "Another person who emphasizes the power of the new mutation is researcher Dr. Esther Sabino, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine, who said: "Corona, the disease has now erupted again because of this new mutation."
Although Dr. Paria, who also tested the new virus against the Chinese vaccine distributed in Brazil, saw that the mutation was relatively immune, he tried to reassure and say that "even if in the laboratory we saw that the virus relatively reduces the success of the Chinese vaccine we use, it does not mean that It will also happen in the field because there are other variables to take into account. "
Researcher Michael Vorobi, a virologist at the University of Arizona, warns: "Now that the Brazilian mutation has left the South American country and reached the United States, it must be followed very carefully." Dr. Sabino says that "it was a matter of time before a strong mutation appeared. "Like that, it's just lucky that it happened in Manos and nowhere else in the world."