RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Since the start of the pandemic, 110 different strains of the novel coronavirus are or were circulating in Brazil. The information comes from a study based on data entered by researchers in the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation’s (Fiocruz) genomics platform, which includes results from genetic sequencing conducted by other institutions.
A past survey, conducted in early April, showed that there were 92 strains in the country up until that time. Since then, at least 18 have emerged in a 35-day period.
And this number tends to keep growing. The P.1.2 variant detected in Rio de Janeiro, in a partnership between the State Department of Health (SES) and the National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LNCC), in Petrópolis, an agency linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, has not yet been included in the platform, and was announced last Thursday, May 7.
Paola Serra, researcher at the Laboratory of Respiratory Viruses and Measles at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz), a reference unit for the coronavirus, understands that the increase is expected.
“It is in the biology of the coronavirus to present genetic changes over time. We have a huge diversity of worldwide circulation, some are important, others are not. The ones that are important today in Brazil are the variants of interest or concern,” explains the virologist.
There are three variants classified as of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO): the Manaus (P.1), the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7) and South Africa (B.1.35).
In addition to the native Amazonas strain, others have also been detected in Brazil. The variants of interest are closely monitored by researchers and can have an important impact on the epidemiological scenario, but are restricted to a few areas, such as the P.2 and the N.9, both found by LNCC in Brazil.
According to Fiocruz, the P.1 strain, of concern, is currently prevalent throughout the country. The second most common is the P.2, of interest. And the third most common is the B.1.1.28, from which P.2 originated. Mutations that, over time, cause viruses in a lineage to develop new characteristics and be interpreted as a new group are driving this increase.
According to Alberto Chebabo, vice president of the Brazilian Society of Infectology (SBI) and professor of Medicine at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), this behavior is common and affected by the flow of people and broad contact between them, in the absence of more stringent restrictive measures.
“It is always important to know the variants, to know their impact. They may have higher transmissibility, capacity to evade the immune system, as is the case of the variants of concern. The others generally have no impact. The greater the number of cases and interactions, the greater the chance of replication,” says the infectologist.
Since the start of the pandemic, over 423,000 people have died from the novel coronavirus in Brazil. In all, there are 15.2 million confirmed cases, with a lethality rate of 2.8%.
Source: CNN Brasil