Miscellaneous
Contributor: Gretchen Hinson, MD Educational Pearls: Viruses mutate frequently and a new variant of COVID has been found in the United Kingdom. Mutations typically occur due to transcription errors during virus replication leading to slight changes in the virus which can alter its virulence, and this UK mutation has shown more infectivity. The UK variant was first identified on 9/20/20 and sequenced in October. The variant has a mutation of it’s spike protein with increased receptor binding capacity, meaning more infective. This variant has a 71% increased rate of transmission while typically causing a higher viral load. Children seem to be more susceptible to this variant as compared to the prior COVID strains. References 1) Grubaugh ND, Hanage WP, Rasmussen AL. Making Sense of Mutation: What D614G Means for the COVID-19 Pandemic Remains Unclear. Cell. 2020 Aug 20;182(4):794-795. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.040. Epub 2020 Jul 3. PMID: 32697970; PMCID: PMC7332445. 2) Tang JW, Tambyah PA, Hui DS. Emergence of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant in the UK. J Infect. 2020 Dec 28:S0163-4453(20)30786-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.12.024. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33383088. Summarized by Jackson Roos, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.