MADISON, Wis. — A mutant strain of coronavirus is spreading fast in the United Kingdom. The new strain is believed to be up to 70% more infectious, but doctors aren’t sure yet if it makes you more sick.
News 3 Now asked Dr. William Hartman at UW Health if the current approved vaccines will work against the mutant strain.
“The real answer is we don’t completely know the answer,” said Hartman. “We suspect that the vaccines will be just fine against this new strain.”
He said it’s the way the virus mutated that’s worrisome. It’s spike proteins hold onto cells more tightly than other strains.
“Any changes within that spike protein are obviously concerning, but the majority, 99% of that spike protein remains the same,” said Hartman. “It would be highly unusual for it to mutate enough that all of these antibodies wouldn’t work.”
Wisconsin Department of Health Services is actively looking for the strain, but not in all tests. The only way to do that is to do full genome sequencing to look at the RNA of the virus.
“We do this in Wisconsin on a routine basis, but ultimately on a small portion of the tests that get performed. There’s been several thousand that we’ve done this full genome sequencing,” said Dr. Ryan Westergaard, the Chief Medical Officer at DHS.
He said just because this strain hasn’t been found, doesn’t mean it’s not here.
Dr. Hartman said it’s probably already in the U.S.
But it’s important to understand that mutations are normal.
“Mutations among viruses are very, very common. It’s not unusual, in fact it’s expected that as time goes on in an epidemic, the genetic sequence of the virus can change,” said Westergaard.
But this change doesn’t mean we fight the virus any differently. The most effective way to prevent the spread is still wearing a mask and social distancing.
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