Further research is shedding light on the potential effects of B.1.1.7, the mutating coronavirus strain that originated in England last September.
What We Know:
- A new study published by The Lancet Infectious Diseases on Monday concluded that people infected with the more contagious United Kingdom coronavirus variant known as B.1.1.7 did not experience more severe symptoms and were not at higher risk of death compared to those infected with the original strain.
- Researchers studied a pool of patients who were admitted to University College London Hospital and North Middlesex University Hospital from Nov. 9 to Dec. 20 for COVID-19 treatment. The scientists sequenced virus samples from 341 patients, finding that 58 percent were positive for the U.K. variant and that 42 percent had been infected with a different strain.
- The variant, known to be the dominant COVID-19 strain in Europe, did not appear deadlier than the original strain. However, scientists did see patients with the B.1.1.7 variant had greater quantities of the virus or higher “viral loads,” but it is not yet clear why.
- The lead author of the study, Dan Frampton, a bioinformatician at University College London, hypothesized that “one idea for why this variant is more transmissible could be that patients are making more virus.” Although more research is needed, patients hospitalized with the B.1.1.7 variant at the time were more likely to be under the age of 60 and from ethnic minority backgrounds.
“There’s clearly a lot of interesting stuff to look into. We’re in a much better position now to start studying what appear to be small results and go into more detail to flesh the picture out more,” Frampton stated.
