The French health service Santé Publique France announced Tuesday morning that the stealth virus is taking hold in the respiratory system much deeper than regular Coronaviruses. As a result, cotton swabs are inaccessible, and this can only be demonstrated with a more extensive lung flow, with a tube in the lungs.
Perhaps the “Breton variant” is associated with slightly different tissues, suggests virologist Chantal Ryuskin (RIVM). It is an important signal, as this may indicate a variant that produces a more serious clinical picture. Despite this, to our knowledge, this outbreak is still very local.
Mysterious outbreak
The new boom was spotted at the end of February, after a mysterious eruption in Lannion, on Brittany’s northern coast. Although ten people at that time had symptoms similar to those of Corona, the corona tests were negative. Meanwhile, new analyzes show that eight of the 79 cases, which became unknown at the same time, have a hitherto unknown type of virus, with nine mutations in the building plan, according to Santé Publique France.
According to the Health Services, there are no indications that the new variant is more contagious. That wouldn’t make very much sense, says coronavirus scientist Eric Snyder (LUMC). “Because how should this variable be spread? If it cannot be caught from your throat and nose, that seems like a dead end to me from an evolutionary point of view. However, the ghost virus has apparently succeeded in infecting many people in Brittany. Mysterious, According to Reusken, the topic of further research.
In the Netherlands, the British variant B.1.1.7 is now increasingly dominant. According to the last weekly RIVM virus sample, at the end of February, three quarters of all virus samples collected in the test line were from species that had moved from England. This means that almost all infections in our country are now caused by B.1.1.7.
Brazilian alternative
The more contagious variant also has an interesting side effect: It appears to keep other variants at bay. Like the South African variant of the virus, it is notorious because vaccines and natural antibodies have less control over it. We don’t see that in the future. About 2 to 3 percent of all viruses remain, Reusken says. Someone appeared in the Netherlands with the dangerous Brazilian substitute “P1”. Further investigations should reveal whether the virus came from abroad, or whether there was a local source of fire.
Interestingly, the British variant is much more contagious than the old coronaviruses, but in our country is “ only ” 30 percent more contagious than the traditional variants. In Ireland, Great Britain and Portugal, among other countries, B.1.1.7 turned out to be much easier to fly from throat to throat. Virologists believe this may have something to do with where the virus first appeared in the community. After all, in a group where the rules are more strictly observed, the virus has a lesser chance of infecting others.
The Breton mutant is not the first halo variant to dive under the radar. Likewise, the B.1.1.7 variant appeared when British researchers began to notice that some tests showed that the virus was only “half”, as if it were a virus without lumps. This turns out to be because B.1.1.7 has a mutation in its genetic build plan in exactly where the commonly used test in the UK is used to detect the virus.
