P.1 variant of COVID-19 may engender reinfection, expert says
Bygone are the days when immunity from COVID-19 was all we wished the new variant will not spare anyone. As the study shows, Some who had immunity from previous bouts of the coronavirus contracted it again as the P.1 variant spread in the Amazonian city of Manaus.
Brazilian virus can plonk a halt on all the progress made till now to restrict the CORONAVIRUS, CDC says. In the past two weeks, two variants of the coronavirus have become so familiar among us.
B.1.1.7, first identified in Britain, has demonstrated the power to spread far and fast. A mutant called B.1.351 can dodge antibodies, blunting the effectiveness of some vaccines in South Africa.
P.1 variant initially discovered in Brazil is a matter of concern, leaving scientists unsure how much to worry about.
“I’ve been holding my breath,” said Bronwyn MacInnis, an epidemiologist at the Broad Institute.
P.1 variant is most likely arose there in November and then fueled a surge in coronavirus cases. It came to dominate the city partly because of increased contagiousness, the research found.
The laboratory experiments suggest that P.1 could revoke the effect of a Chinese vaccine now in use in Brazil.
But even with the mysteries that remain around P.1, experts say that it is a variant to take seriously. “It’s right to be worried about P.1, and this data gives us the reason why,” said William Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
P.1 is now spreading across the rest of Brazil and found in 24 other countries. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded in five states: Alaska, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, and Oklahoma.
