Posted on 07/07/21
| News Source: i24
Health Ministry identifies 'delta plus' variant in four patients
Israel's Health Ministry has identified a new coronavirus strain in four patients and is investigating the chain of infection, Channel 12 reports.
The variant has been unofficially dubbed "delta plus," differing slightly from the highly contagious delta variant that started in India and is currently circulating globally, threatening to become the dominant variant in the world.
Delta plus contains an extra mutation — K417N — located in the spike protein, which covers the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The mutation is also evident in the beta variant and studies have shown that K417N helps beta evade antibodies which could mean vaccines are less effective against delta plus.
However, a new study out of Canada shows that the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines are effective against the four big variants of concern -- alpha (B.1.1.7), beta (B.1.351), gamma (P.1) and delta (B.1.617.2).
At least two versions of the delta plus variant have been slowly spreading around the world. The variant has been detected in Canada, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, Nepal, Japan, the UK, the US and now Israel.
Dr Oren Kobiler, a clinical microbiology and immunology expert at the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, explained to Channel 12 that mutations are a natural process in viruses and that while the variants have an evolutionary advantage, "it certainly does not appear at the moment that they cause a more serious disease."