"Unique constellation": Researchers find new corona mutations in wastewater - animals as carriers?
Created: 02/10/2022 10:51 am
By: Franziska Schwarz
New corona variants were detected in the wastewater of New York City (symbolic image).
© Xinhua/Shen Hong/Imago
The pathogen is also being investigated in the sewage system.
New findings from New York are not causing alarm, but are attracting increased attention.
New York City - Not only the city of Munich examines the wastewater for the omicron variant.
Many cities around the world are tracking the human-excreted corona virus for possible new insights.
Also in the US.
Researchers in New York City are now concerned about mutations that could make certain vaccines resistant.
"We have encountered virus fragments that have a unique constellation of mutations," "Tagesschau" correspondent Anja Passenheim quoted virologist John Dennehy in a February 9 report.
This structure has not been seen anywhere in the world.
Dennehy and his team from the City University of New York have been investigating the traces of corona in the sewer system for a good year.
"The data gives us clues as to how omicron is spreading," the university recently tweeted:
New York City: Researchers examine corona particles in wastewater
So can you get infected through the sewage?
According to the report, microbiologist Monica Trujillo appeased: "There is absolutely no evidence that the virus particles that we have isolated from the wastewater are in any way infectious." They have not yet been detected in any patient tested, said Michael Lanza, a spokesman for the city, on the subject for The
New York Times
.
Nevertheless, the team listens.
The unknown new variant shares some mutations with Omicron.
The researchers do not rule out that the corona mutations that have now been discovered could be able to circumvent human immunizations in the future.
Video: Lauterbach on mutations
New corona mutations in NYCs: Dogs and cats probably not carriers
"We discovered mutations that developed resistance to antibodies or certain vaccines," Trujillo said.
However, the findings so far do not indicate this.
Although the research team examined 5,000 sewage samples worldwide, they only found the new mutation in New York sewage, and even here only in a few parts of the city, reports the "Tagesschau".
The
New York Times
, on the other hand, writes that researchers have also found similar mutations in a sewer system in the US state of California.
The scientists are currently betting on animals as carriers.
Cats and dogs are currently excluded.
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