Coronavirus: recovered Chinese patients may be defenceless against foreign mutation, study says
- Antibodies found in blood of people who have fought disease failed to stop D614G, Chinese scientists say
- Mutant form identified in genetic data of samples collected at Xinfadi food market in Beijing where latest outbreak began
According to Professor Huang Ailong from Chongqing Medical University, there is an urgent need to determine what threat the mutation, known as D614G, poses to people who have recovered from a different form of the virus.
D614G began spreading in Europe in early February and by May was the dominant strain around the world, presenting in 70 per cent of sequenced samples in Europe and North America.
Antibodies found in patients who had been infected with earlier forms of the pathogen failed to neutralise the mutant strain, the scientists said in paper published on Biorxiv.org, a preprint website, which means it has not been peer-reviewed.
Health authorities identified the infection in a number of locations at the market, including inside the mouths of imported salmon. The whole genome sequencing data of samples from the first three patients have been released and they all contained the D614G mutation.