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US - LSU Health New Orleans Precision Medicine Lab Finds New Omicron Subvariants BE.1 and BF.1

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  • US - LSU Health New Orleans Precision Medicine Lab Finds New Omicron Subvariants BE.1 and BF.1

    LOCAL NEWS

    LSU Health lab researchers discover two new COVID-19 variants

    Researchers are working to learn more about two new COVID-19 variants.

    Author: Erika Ferrando (WWL)
    Published: 6:09 PM CDT July 6, 2022
    Updated: 6:09 PM CDT July 6, 2022

    BATON ROUGE, La. —
    ...
    Last week, four samples revealed two new COVID-19 variants that have never been detected before.

    "We looked into the global database of subvariants and we were unable to find them," Dr. Miele said.

    Subvariants of Omicron, the new variants are called BE.1 and BF.1. Dr. Miele and his team identified three cases of BE.1 and one case of BF.1 at the end of June.

    "The appearance of these new ones, a total of four cases, was a surprise. Now we're going to have to track them," Dr. Miele said.

    Because they are so new, Dr. Miele doesn't know what's different about these variants, how contagious they are, or how sick they could make you. That's why he will keep monitoring them to see if cases increase.

    "We don't know yet what this means. It will depend on whether they start spreading," he said.

    It's unknown how they originated. Dr. Miele said they either came from outside Louisiana, mutated into a new variant inside a COVID-positive patient, or came from an animal.

    "The virus that causes COVID-19 doesn't just infect humans. It can infect rodents like mice and rats, it infects cats, mink," Dr. Miele said.
    ...
    https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/l...1-a9b3d72689c9

    -------------------------------------------------

    LSU Health New Orleans Precision Medicine Lab Finds New Omicron Subvariants


    July 5, 2022



    LSU Health New Orleans’ Precision Medicine Lab has found two new SARS-CoV-2 variants in Louisiana. BE.1 and BF.1 are subvariants of the Omicron Variant of Concern that has driven the latest surge. The Lab identified three cases of BE.1 and one case of BF.1 in tests performed at the end of June.

    “To our knowledge, these Omicron subvariants have not been reported in the United States until now.” Notes Lucio Miele, MD. PhD, co-Director of the Precision Medicine Lab and Professor and Head of Genetics at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. “Their possible clinical and public health significance is still unknown.”

    LSU Health New Orleans is part of a multistate group supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) that monitors SARS-CoV-2 sequence diversity in Institutional Development Award states. LSU Health New Orleans also partners with the Louisiana Department of Health, Ochsner and BIE, a Louisiana company experienced in infectious disease bioinformatics, to collect samples from COVID tests and sequence them to determine what is circulating in the State.

    “The pattern that is emerging from the data is one whereby once a dominant variant emerges, such as Delta and Omicron, the genetic diversity of the virus temporarily drops as the new variant takes over,” explains Dr. Miele. “After that, multiple subvariants emerge from mutations of the dominant variant. This is the most important time to monitor the emergence of new subvariants, especially if their numbers start increasing, and determine what's different about them. This kind of information is critical to understanding transmission or resistance to therapeutics.”

    Variants of SARS-CoV-2 have become increasingly better able to spread and to evade immunity. Omicron is more transmissible than Delta was, and Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 seem to have the ability to infect people who were immune to earlier variants and subvariants. Some have also shown resistance to monoclonal antibodies used to reduce the severity of COVID-19.

    Miele adds. “We will be monitoring these new sub-variants and compare experiences with other centers to determine how these variants originated and whether they are spreading.”

    https://www.lsuhsc.edu/newsroom/LSU%...bvariants.html
    "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
    -Nelson Mandela

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