Houston Methodist finds multiple cases of significant coronavirus mutations, including Brazil strain
Infectious disease pathologists have sequenced more than 20,000 genomes of SARS-CoV-2 virus
Newswise HOUSTON-(March 2, 2021) – Houston Methodist discovered 28 cases of coronavirus variants in its latest batches of virus genomes sequenced from patients with positive COVID-19 tests, including what might be the state’s first confirmation of four cases of the Brazil variant known as P.1. Houston is the first city in the U.S. to have all the major variants documented by genome sequencing.
“There is evidence to indicate that the Brazil P.1 variant may spread faster and be resistant to certain vaccines and monoclonal antibody therapies – much like the South Africa variant known as B.1.351 – and may still be able to cause disease in some people who are inoculated with Pfizer or Moderna vaccines,” said James M. Musser, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pathology and Geno
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The optimal timeframe for donating convalescent plasma for use in COVID-19 immunotherapy, which was given emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration in August 2020, is within 60 days of the onset of symptoms, according to a new Penn State-led study. The research also reveals that the ideal convalescent plasma donor is a recovered COVID-19 patient who is older than 30 and whose illness had been severe. Millions of individuals worldwide have recovered from COVID-19 and may be eligible for participation in convalescent plasma donor programs, said Vivek Kapur, professor of microbiology and infectious diseases, Penn State. Our findings enable identification of the most promising donors and suggest that these people should donate quickly before their antibodies begin to wane.
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