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The British variant of the coronavirus may be more deadly, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in January. In March, another study was published confirming these suspicions. However, scientists were still analyzing whether B.1.1.7 was actually responsible for the more severe course of COVID-19. The results of their work have just been announced. As it turned out?
- The UK variant of the coronavirus is more contagious. Several studies have also indicated that it can lead to a severe course of COVID-19 and greater mortality
- However, new analyzes show that there is no association between the B.1.1.7 mutation and higher levels of COVID-19
- Scientists comment: The results are reassuring, but this needs confirmation in larger studies
- You can find more up-to-date information on the TvoiLokony home page
In January, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the British variant “may be associated with higher mortality”. These suspicions were confirmed by several studies. In March, scientists announced in the British Medical Journal that “the COVID-19 variant, which has spread worldwide since its first discovery in the UK at the end of last year, is down by around 64%. more lethal than the previous dominant variants ». It was also found that a higher risk of death in patients infected with the British SARS-CoV-2 mutation appears about two weeks after the disease.
British scientists analyzed data on the number of deaths among the infected group, in which different variants of the virus were found. At 54 thousand 906 patients with COVID-19 caused by the British variant, 227 died. With the same number of infections with other coronavirus variants, 141 patients lost their lives.
“In the community, death from COVID-19 is still a rare event, but variant B.1.1.7 increases the risk …” warned lead author Dr. Robert Challen of the University of Exeter.
- More on this in the article: British Coronavirus Mutation More Deadly? There is new evidence
The above findings met with a mixed response from the scientific community. Dr. Julian Tang, Honorary Associate Professor and Clinical Virologist at the University of Leicester, stressed that “he is still not very convinced of the research results”. Winter temperatures can ‘exacerbate essential conditions’ such as chronic heart, lung, kidney disease and neurological problems that may predispose people to more severe COVID-19 or even death, he stressed, stressing that more research is needed.
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British mutation causes heavy COVID-19 course? New arrangements
Scientists continued to analyze the variant B.1.1.7 of the coronavirus and the course of the disease it causes. Two studies on this subject have just been published (published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases and The Lancet Public Health).
The results are optimistic. Both analyzes found no evidence that people infected with the British variant of SARS-CoV-2 experience more severe symptoms or a greater risk of developing “COVID-19 long tail” (long-term complications from the disease) than those infected with other variants of the pathogen.
The authors of the first study looked at data from 341 patients whose coronavirus was confirmed by testing at the end of 2020 (when B.1.1.7 was spreading in the South East of England). 58 percent these patients actually contracted the British variant. In this group, 36 percent. fell seriously ill or died, a similar percentage concerned people infected with SARS-CoV-1.1.7 mutations other than B.2 (38%). These data suggest that there is no association between the UK variant of the coronavirus and an increased risk of severe COVID-19. Interestingly, the data also showed that patients with the British variant were usually younger, moreover, infections with it were more common in ethnic minority groups.
During the second study, the data of almost 37 thousand people were analyzed. UK users of the COVID-19 symptom tracking app. In this case, there was also no evidence that the British mutation was associated with a more severe course of the disease.
The British mutation has nothing to do with the more severe COVID-19. Scientists comment on the results of the research
However, both of these analyzes confirmed that variant B.1.1.7 was associated with a higher viremia and reproductive rate than the normal variants. In the first study, scientists looked at patient data generated during PCR tests. They found that the British variant samples contained higher amounts of SARS-CoV-2 than swabs of other mutations.
The scientific community referred to the announced research. Researchers from the National Center for Infectious Diseases in Singapore emphasized that the results of the analyzes contradicted three previous studies suggesting that the British mutation is more lethal than other SARS-CoV-2 variants. Still, the research has shown benefits, such as including a large variety of patient outcomes and diseases in the research. – It is reassuring to find that variant B.1.1.7 infection does not result in an increased risk of severe disease and mortality in this high-risk cohort, but needs to be confirmed in larger studies – experts emphasize.
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