Louisiana has discovered its first case of the new, more infectious U.K. variant of the coronavirus.
The new variant is about 50 percent more infectious than the dominant strain in the state right now, but LSU Health New Orleans Assistant Dean of Translational Science Lucio Miele said this development is not surprising because viruses have evolutionary pressure to grow more infectious.
“Every life form evolves,” said Miele. “RNA viruses evolve faster than other things and this virus accumulates on average two mutations a month.”
The CDC warns the UK variant will likely become the dominant strain of coronavirus in the U.S. by March.
Miele said this is one of several new branches of the virus that have been discovered in recent months, but all of them, including the U.K. variant, cause no more severe cases than the standard strain.
The Louisiana Department of Health reports they are trying to isolate those who’s been in contact with the new mutation, but it is likely that strain is already circulating through the state.
Miele said the good news is that so far it looks like our vaccines protect against the new strain, and if the virus mutates further they’ll be ready to respond.
“This is an evolutionary arms race. If we make the virus less infectious using the vaccine, the virus will look for ways to become more infectious,” said Miele.
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