Scientists at Stanford Health recently uncovered a new "double mutant" COVID-19 variant in California.
The variant is believed to have originated in India.
Dr. Benjamin Pinsky is the Director of the Stanford Clinical Virology Lab. He joined KCBS Radio's "Ask An Expert" segment Thursday to explain how the discovery was made.
Their lab has been screening for both known and unknown mutations.
"Understanding which variants are present is important for public health interventions and decisions made at that level," he said.
When they get a positive result on a coronavirus PCR test, they then test that sample for known mutations.
"For all the positives that we get through the conventional testing, we look for mutations, we screen for mutations that are associated with these variants," he said.
"We identify those mutations but that doesn't tell us what lineage the virus is in, so then we do whole genome sequencing…and that really helps us identify these variants and track them."
He explained they also conduct genome sequencing on samples that do not contain known mutations, in order to discover new variants as they arise.
That is how they discovered this double mutation.
"We did identify this new double mutant in the Bay Area that contains the mutation found in the B.1.427 and B.1.429 California mutant as well as a different mutation at the E484 position."
It is still not clear how this mutation might affect the virus' ability to spread.
"Folks are still working on that, trying to determine how this combination of mutations impacts transmissibility, the ability of antibodies and convalescent plasma to neutralize the virus, as well as whether the vaccines will be as effective at preventing infection with this virus. And I don't think we completely know the answers to that yet."
You can find more data on the different variants from Stanford here.
