South African Coronavirus strain may be able to Escape Antibodies, Cause Reinfection warn Scientists

 According to researchers, the new coronavirus strain in South Africa may be of greater concern to healthcare professionals and the general public. It can escape the immune system and evade antibody responses produced by the vaccines to infect host cells & may be able to reinfect more than half the people who have already been sick with the Covid-19. According to the yet-to-be peer reviewed study, published in the preprint platformbioRxiv, the novel lineage of the coronavirus — 501Y.V2 — has mutations in nine parts of its spike protein, which enables it to infect human cells.

Mutations on a specific part of the virus' outer spike protein appear to make it able to "escape" antibodies & this may lead to cases of reinfection., researchers said.

The researchers, including those from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, examined the neutralisation activity of plasma from patients who recovered from prior infection with other strains of the coronavirus against the 501Y.V2 variant.

According to researchers about 48 per cent of blood samples of people who have been infected by coronavirus previously did not show an immune response to the new variant of the coronavirus. One of the researchers said it was "clear that there is a problem", according to a national daily report.

According to Professor Penny Moore, the researcher behind the project, people who were severely sick with COVID-19 the first time may be less likely to get reinfected from the new strain, since they had a strong immune response to the pathogen.

Antibodies are the immune response that is produced by the coronavirus vaccines. Therefore, if the virus continues to evolve and become resistant to the antibodies, it could also mean that the current vaccines developed against the novel coronavirus may become redundant, and may need to be redesigned.

Experts so far say they have no reason to believe vaccines won't work, which may be because they produce a stronger immune response than a very mild infection and because they produce various different types of immune cells. The new coronavirus strain found in South Africa is 50 per cent more contagious than the previous strains, according to reports.

Antibodies are specific to the virus, and if the virus changes too much, current antibodies in people's bodies may not be able to fit it for longer, and cannot destroy it, or stop it from causing disease. This means that people who have been infected with the coronavirus a few months ago, may not have immunity against the new strains.