– says UWI virologist
– says countries should do more testing, contact tracing

By Vishani Ragobeer

AMID growing concerns of variants, or strains, of the virus COVID-19 circulating in Guyana, Virologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Jamaica, Dr. Joshua Anzinger, is of the view that if persons adhere to the existing health guidelines, it will help to mitigate the impact of these variants.

On Friday, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, highlighted that Guyana was ‘on alert’ following the discovery of a new variant of COVID-19 in Brazil, Guyana’s southern neighbour. Other variants of concern have been identified in the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa. The BBC reported that it is not unexpected that new variants have developed since all viruses mutate as they make new copies of themselves to spread and thrive.

“I think that regardless of whether you have (the variants) or not, it’s still the basic same principles of public health,” Dr. Anzinger highlighted in a recent interview with the Sunday Chronicle, adding: “You want to keep wearing your masks, you want to keep social distancing, you want to make sure that you’re testing as many people as possible.”

The virologist is a member of the UWI’s Regional COVID-19 Task Force and the Director of Global Virus Network. Speaking about the variants that emerged in the UK and South Africa, Dr. Anzinger noted that there seems to be no difference in the severity of the disease. What is apparent, however, is that the variants seem to be more transmissible, which means that it is more likely that more persons can become infected. This, he explained, could lead to a “surge” in the number of cases recorded in the country.

In order to adequately prepare for such a surge in cases, the virologist posited that it would be prudent for the health authorities to ready themselves to potentially expend more resources for testing and contact tracing.

The Brazil strain is a much newer strain and genetic analyses are still ongoing to determine whether this variant may be more harmful. So far, it also seems to be more transmissible.

REINFECTIONS

In a recent interview with the Sunday Chronicle, the Health Minister said that there are concerns over the increased likelihood of reinfection that may be caused by the new strains of the virus. Dr. Anzinger, however, explained that while the COVID-19 virus has mutated into these newer strains, the majority of the virus’ makeup remains the same. Resultantly, it would still be recognisable by an individual’s immune system.

“Likely it’s going to be very similar so I don’t think there’s going to be a big concern right now that we have the variant and we’re going to have a lot of reinfections…I don’t think that’s going to be very likely at all,” Dr. Anzinger contended.

He, nevertheless, acknowledged that studies are still ongoing and more information on the reinfection rates would become available as the variants are analysed further.

VARIANT(s) IN GUYANA?

Locally, the Eureka Medical Laboratories Inc., a private institution, discovered what appears to be an ‘abnormal’ makeup of COVID-19, which could possibly be new strains of the virus. Following this discovery, the Health Ministry has requested those test results from the private establishment for further examination. These samples will be sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) where a type of genetic analysis, called genomic sequencing, will be done to conclusively state whether these abnormalities are newer strains or not.

Minister Anthony has emphasised, on numerous occasions, that Guyana does not have the capacity to conclusively identify newer strains because the country is unable to perform genomic sequencing. But, he has not rejected the possibility that the strain(s) may be in Guyana. Virology Laboratory Manager at Eureka, Paul Cheddie told this newspaper that these “abnormalities”, which could be COVID-19 variants, were discovered following the lab’s use of three-gene-testing to test for three genes or targets associated with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

These genes, Cheddie said, help to enable the COVID variants to bind to human cells, and, therefore, enter and infect the cells. He, however, highlighted that some variation has been identified since some samples have one less gene (that is, they have only two genes).

This ‘missing gene’ is the S-gene, and this has been documented internationally as the gene that has indeed ‘dropped out’ or been ‘deleted’ in the UK variant. According to the Verge, geneticist at the Francis Crick Institute in London, Theo Sanderson, said that ‘flagging’ samples with the S-gene-dropout has been “very useful” in helping to identify potential coronavirus variants.

Meanwhile, Dr. Anzinger also highlighted that the ‘missing gene’ method is indeed suggestive that the positive COVID-19 sample could also be a variant.

“Whether it’s that particular variant that was originally identified in England, it wouldn’t be conclusive so that you would definitely have to do sequencing,” the virologist said, adding however: “It is suggestive of a variant but is not conclusive and does not conclusively identify the particular variant.”

On Friday, when asked about whether the Health Ministry utilises the ‘three-gene’ testing, the Health Minister only explained that this testing, along with ‘two-gene’ testing are subtypes of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. And, he only indicated that the Ministry uses PCR testing, which is the gold-standard test for COVID-19, along with antigen and antibody tests.

It is not clear whether the ministry has been able to detect similar “abnormalities” that Eureka has, through the use of three-gene-testing. In its updated progress report, CARPHA, however, maintained that the risk of importation of the ‘UK variant’ to the Caribbean is “very high” due to incoming travel from the UK and Europe. The Caribbean agency also flagged the South Africa strain as a variant of concern.

The report also stated that four cases of the new variant have been confirmed in Jamaica. Dr. Anzinger noted that these four ‘variant cases’ were detected after 20 COVID-19 positive samples, gathered from a flight from the UK, were sent to CARPHA for genomic sequencing.

VACCINES EFFECTIVE

As aforementioned, these variants are a result of mutations of COVID-19. This does not mean that the entire composition of the virus is changed, though.

“It’s only one little spot (on the virus) that’s changed and your immune system is going to recognise multiple spots,” Dr. Anzinger related, explaining that the neutralising antibodies from the vaccines should still be able to protect against the virus binding to and infecting cells.

What this means is that the vaccines being developed, some of which have already been administered, should still be effective against COVID-19 and these variants identified thus far. But, the BBC also reported that it may be too early to conclusively state whether current vaccines would be effective against the Brazilian and South African variants. While further studies are underway, the news agency also reported that alterations can be made to the vaccines to target the mutated coronavirus strains.

Addressing a seemingly pervasive sense of vaccine hesitancy, Dr. Anzinger emphasised that there have not been any major or widespread concerns following the administration of the vaccines. He, therefore, urged persons to “look at the facts” and not be swayed sensationalised reports of issues with the vaccines.

Guyana’s first set of vaccines, secured through its arrangement with the COVAX facility, is expected sometime during the second quarter of this year. The first set of vaccines will be administered to healthcare workers and then elderly persons with comorbidities (other underlying medical conditions). As the country prepares for those vaccines, efforts are being made to mitigate further spread of the virus and protect against the importation of newer strains. The crossing between Guyana and Brazil, for example, remains closed.