Nevada State Public Health Laboratory detects New B.1.1.7 COVID-19 strain in Nevada The Nevada State Public Health Laboratory (NSPHL) at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) characterized the first known Nevada case of the new B.1.1.7 coronavirus strain in January. The new strain was detected in a sample that was initially tested in the Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory (SNPHL). The B.1.1.7 strain first emerged in the U.K. in fall 2020 and has become highly prevalent in certain geographical regions according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since December 2020, several other countries, Canada and the United States among them, have reported cases of the virus variant. The variant is listed among others variants found in the U.K. and South Africa that have been identified in parts of the U.S. The specimen was collected during routine community collection activities and tested by SNPHL to determine if it was positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. During testing, it was discovered the specimen was showing characteristics of the variant. It was then sent to NSPHL for sequencing and confirmation.
The NSPHL sequenced the specimen and analyzed the data that detected the new strain of SARS-CoV-2 in Nevada on Jan. 22. Nevada State Public Health Laboratory Director Mark Pandori, Ph.D. said the lab detected the case as part of its B.1.1.7 strain testing program found in a specimen from a symptomatic woman in her 30s, with an address in Las Vegas. Dr. Pandori says this strain is more contagious, but it is not yet known whether the variant causes a more severe illness than the reference COVID-19 strain. “It is copying itself a lot right now, which can lead to mutating," says Pandori. "The more a virus spreads in a community, the more opportunities it has to make mistakes when it copies itself. This leads to what we see here and it's a very natural part of viral evolution.” The Nevada State Public Health Laboratory has been analyzing positive COVID-19 virus samples for the B.1.1.7 strain since mid-December 2020 through whole genome sequencing. The lab is currently working on surveilling as many positive COVID(Lab page 8)
775-323-7189 waltonsfuneralhomes.com www.SeniorSpectrumNewspapers.com // February 2021 |
7
