For The Latest Medical News, Health News, Research News, COVID-19 News, Pharma News, Glaucoma News, Diabetes News, Herb News, Phytochemical News, Thailand Cannabis News, Epigenetic News, Cancer News, Doctor News, Hospital News, Oral Cancer News
Variant Hunters Discover New SARS-CoV-2 Variant with Minor Saltation and a Number of Interesting Mutations Including S:Q493E
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Feb 08, 2025 4 hours, 8 minutes ago
Medical News: Perusing through thousands of various SARS-CoV-2 sequences taken from samples of COVID-19 positive individuals, researchers and variant hunters have discovered a new SARS-CoV-2 variant with a degree of saltation and a number of mutations on it.
Variant Hunters Discover New SARS-CoV-2 Variant with Minor Saltation and a Number of Interesting
Mutations Including S:Q493E
The sequences came from patient samples originating in the United States and Singapore, and are derived from the LF.7.1 lineage.
Researchers found the S:Q493E mutation on it which was not found in the other branching lineages of LF.7.1
The Spike mutation Q439E was first seen in the Delta sub-lineage AY.49 and later in the Omicron variant is believed to be associated with immune-evasiveness and enhanced binding to the ACE-2 receptor. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8846359/
At present there is no data to propose whether this new variant is more pathogenic or virulent and also to date, only two sequences have been found.
However, we are still at an early stage, as the first sequence was only detected on the 19th of January 2025 in Singapore. (Singapore, EPI_ISL_19697940)
Readers should also take note of another variant spotted in the United States which seems to possess a certain degree of growth potential called the PA.1 variant which was found in the United States with 19 sequences so far in 6 states. https://x.com/SolidEvidence/status/1886137986032533757
This new variant also possesses some interesting mutations and needs to be monitored closely.
The key thing to note is that the SARS-CoV-2 variants are mutating rapidly and while we are possibly facing a silent global spread and there is little testing coupled with the very high possibly that the current rapid test kits and also molecular testing might not be picking up many of these new variants effectively, we are just one step away for the much anticipated Q lineages that many modeling platforms have projected to the next problematic variant that will likely lead to an interesting surge.
>
Thailand Medical News will be providing more updates on the SARS-CoV-2 variants to watch for.
For the latest COVID-19 News, keep on logging to Thailand Medical News.