Update: 02/09/2022 08:43 AM
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Researchers have found evidence of corona mutations in New York sewage that may have developed resistance to certain vaccines. However, there is no cause for concern yet.
By Antje Passenheim, ARD New York Studio
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In search of covid traces, researchers at the City University of New York have been monitoring the metropolis’ sewage for a year and a half. They track the amount of excreted traces circulating in different neighborhoods. Many cities do something like this. But New York researchers have been making suspicious viral findings and scrutinizing them for some time.
Antje Passenheim
ARD Studio New York
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The discovery worries virologist John Dennehy and his team: “In sequencing, we were able to identify the covid variants that are currently occupying New York. But beyond that, we’ve come across virus fragments that have a unique constellation of mutations. This structure that we found in this New York variant, it hasn’t been seen anywhere else in the world.”
Resistance to antibodies and vaccines
It is possible that the virus could already be preparing to take the immune system by surprise in a new form, says the research team, which also includes virologists from other U.S. states. The traces found do not yet make it seem as if they are immediately ready for a new pandemic wave. Their levels in wastewater have risen and fallen along with the number of cases in New York, they say.
Still, there is reason for vigilance, says Monica Trujillo, a microbiologist at Queensborough Community College: “We’ve discovered mutations that have developed resistance to antibodies or certain vaccines. And that could even be transmitted from a source other than a human.”
Origin still unclear
This question about the source is of particular concern to scientists: where did the so-called cryptic traces come from? The researchers checked 5000 other wastewater samples worldwide – but they found the new traces in only seven samples, all from New York. And there they only appeared in a few parts of the city. The mutation has not yet been detected in any of the patients tested.
It is possible, they say, that the mysterious traces came from excretions of chronically infected humans. But rather, the researchers suspect that the discovered virus could have come from animals, says virologist Donnehy: “We found traces in the wastewater, of course, from animal species that people have eaten: Cow, pig, chicken, sheep, salmon. But all of those animals don’t live in New York City, so they can’t be sources. Rats, cats and dogs are different.”
However, although cats and dogs are known to be able to become infected with Covid, they do not qualify in the search for the source of the mutant. Without success, the scientists also looked for signs in blood and fecal samples from local rats.
No immediate danger
So the mystery remains open, he said. “Until we know the source of this mutant and better understand what we’re looking at, we can’t rule out the possibility that this variant will have consequences at some point,” Donnehy says.
As yet, the new lineage traces do not appear to be spreading from quarter to quarter. There is no reason to believe it is immediately dangerous to humans, says microbiologist Trujillo. “There’s no evidence at all that the virus particles we’ve isolated from the sewage are infectious in any way. It’s important for us not to alarm people that they could become infected from the wastewater.”
But at some point, he said, the Omikron variant also came out of nowhere. And it shares some of its mutations with the unknown variant from New York. The research team now wants to investigate the mystery of its origin more intensively.
New York virologists discover mysterious covid virus in wastewater
Antje Passenheim, ARD New York, 9.2.2022 – 08:06 Uhr
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