Kamlendra Singh, who was flying back from India in April to Missouri, developed a fever and a cough on the flight. He had been vaccinated against COVID-19 but tested negative for the virus before departure.
Singh was still positive for COVID-19 after he arrived home in Boone County. This is a diagnosis that many other fully vaccinated individuals and people who have tested positive for the virus before were also experiencing. Singh wanted to know the reason.
Singh, a professor in MU College of Veterinary Medicine, Bond Life Sciences Center, teamed with Austin Spratt, a MU undergraduate student, Saathvik Kanan, a freshman from Hickman High School and Siddappa Bryrareddy, a professor, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center to analyze the protein sequences of more than 300,000. COVID-19 samples of two new variants, known as Delta Plus and Delta Plus, around the globe.
The team used bioinformatics and programming to identify five mutations that are much more common in Delta Plus than in Delta infections. One mutation, K417N is found in all Delta Plus infection but not in any Delta infections. These findings offer important clues for researchers regarding recent structural changes in the virus and highlight the need for an expanded toolbox in fighting COVID-19.
Spratt stated that natural antibodies or antibodies from people who have had COVID-19 previously are showing how clever and dangerous the virus can be. "Either it's natural antibodies or antibodies from the vaccine, we are structurally demonstrating how dangerous and clever this virus is by being in a position to mutate in such a way that antibodies don’t seem to recognize these new variants." These findings explain why so many people have tested positive for the Delta variants, despite having been vaccinated or being infected with COVID-19.
Singh stated that, while COVID-19 vaccines are effective, there is another option for responding to the pandemic: the development of antiviral medications that target specific parts of the virus that have not been modified.
Singh stated that there is no vaccine against HIV because of the unpredictable variability and frequent mutations. "If we can find small-molecule drugs that target the virus that doesn't mutate, then that will be the ultimate way to defeat the virus," Singh said.
The Journal of Autoimmunity published "Evolutionary Analysis of the Delta and Delta Plus Variants of the SARS/CoV-2 Viral Viruses" recently. The University of Nebraska's National Strategic Research Institute and the Bond Life Sciences Center at MU provided funding.
