The researchers examined B.1.1.7, a variant first identified in the United Kingdom, and B.1.351, a variant first identified in South Africa, to assess whether patients showed higher viral loads and thus increased shedding and infectivity.
Variants were identified using whole genome sequencing. The researchers used a large number of samples to show that the British variant accounted for 75% of the circulating viruses by April 2021. The researchers compared 134 transformation samples with 126 control samples and obtained patient clinical data that were able to correlate genomic data with clinical disease and outcomes.
All samples were further tested for viral load. The data were linked to the stage of the disease by looking at the days after the onset of symptoms, which increased clarity in the comparison of virus shedding between groups.
โThe reason why these variations have better portability is not yet clear,โ he said Adannaya Amadi, lead author of the study. “However, our results showed that patients infected with these variants were unlikely to have symptoms compared to the control group. Although those infected with the variants did not have a higher risk of death or intensive care, they were more likely to be hospitalized.”
This study was conducted by Dr. Heba MostafaA research laboratory at Johns Hopkins Medical School that has performed large-scale whole-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 for the state of Maryland and provided data to national publicly available surveillance figures.
Source: ANI
Source: The Nordic Page