Variant B.1.351 (also known as 501Y.V2; first discovered in South Africa)… …is, yes, in the United States. Importantly, it was discovered in two individuals who didn’t know each other AND hadn’t recently travelled. This tells us, epidemiologists, that it’s been spreading within the community (and we just didn’t know about it). We aren’t surprised. This also strongly suggests that others are infected with B.1.351 too. Unfortunately, we don’t know how many people because B.1.351 isn’t easily detectable. PCR tests won’t tell us if someone has this new variant compared to an old variant. PCR tests CAN tell us this with B.1.1.7 (the variant first discovered in the U.K.)
Variant B.1.351
Variant B.1.351
Variant B.1.351
Variant B.1.351 (also known as 501Y.V2; first discovered in South Africa)… …is, yes, in the United States. Importantly, it was discovered in two individuals who didn’t know each other AND hadn’t recently travelled. This tells us, epidemiologists, that it’s been spreading within the community (and we just didn’t know about it). We aren’t surprised. This also strongly suggests that others are infected with B.1.351 too. Unfortunately, we don’t know how many people because B.1.351 isn’t easily detectable. PCR tests won’t tell us if someone has this new variant compared to an old variant. PCR tests CAN tell us this with B.1.1.7 (the variant first discovered in the U.K.)