Scientists say that the more coronavirus infections there are around the world, the more variants will emerge
With more cases, more will become chronic, long infections that give the virus an opportunity to mutate in ways that help it infect human cells and beat the immune system
A third homegrown variant of the coronavirus has U.S. by a team at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Results show the earliest appearance of new variant, called 20C-US, was in Houston, Texas, in May 2020
Genome sequencing of the 57,000 U.S. samples uploaded to database GISAID revealed an uptick of the new variant in July 2020
Special to The Times
After nearly 800,000 Ohioans have tested positive for COVID-19 since March, researchers say they’ve identified a homegrown and more infectious mutation of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
While the mutation is similar to a strain recently discovered in the United Kingdom and South Africa, researchers believe the “Columbus variant” originated in the U.S.
“We are now in a period where the virus is changing quite substantially,” said Dr. Dan Jones, who led the research team with the Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center.
Jones said the mutation in the spike protein of the coronavirus looks the same as those seen in the UK, albeit on top of a “locally derived backbone.” This means, if they are correct, the virus mutated in the U.S. and did not arrive in the country via international travel.