Iāve wondered for a while why America with approximately 1/4 of the cases world wide, has not identified at least one variation of the virus as its own, as it mutates and evolves. Now I know why.
This is a shocking revelation and a huge indictment on the previous administration. Genomic sequencing of the virus is an integral part of tracking and tracing. America is a leader in the technology, but to leave it aside, and simply rely on testing is unbelievable.
It is probably way too late now with cases rampant across the country, but genomic sequencing is the one of the most useful tools to assist in tracking and tracing a new out break, ring fencing it, and identifying the original source of the infection.
We had a small cross border incident here a couple of weeks back when a woman who had been in managed isolation, and tested negative twice, developed symptoms and tested positive about a week after leaving the facility. The genomic sequencing showed that she had same strain as that of a person who had tested positive and was in the facility at the time she was about to depart. It appears that the virus was transmitted via inadequate air conditioning where the air pressure in the facility was not maintained at a constant level.
Once the source had been identified the problem has been rectified.
Now that a more universal use of genomic sequencing is being used in America Iām sure that new variations will be identified as well.
As researchers around the world scramble to understand the dangers of several newly discovered variants of the deadly coronavirus, the US remains woefully behind in its ability to track the mutations, scientists say.
The federal government has had its āhead in the sandā, failing to develop a coordinated surveillance system for tracking the genetic footprints of the virus, according to academic researchers, scientific panelists and private entrepreneurs, who say they have been urging US officials for months to make better use of the hi-tech resources already sitting in labs around the country.
Genomic sequencing looks at the entire genetic code ā or genome ā of viruses obtained from samples from infected patients. The technique allows researchers to watch for dangerous mutations and to track movements of specific variants, like detectives following footprints.
Most genetic variations are inconsequential. But to discover those with functional differences, like more transmissible variants first identified in the UK (B117) and in South Africa (B1351), the research is essential. Yet by Friday the US had only plotted and shared the genetic sequences of 0.3% of its coronavirus cases, ranking 30th in the world, behind countries including Portugal, Latvia and Sierra Leone, according to a tracker developed by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Some US states have had virtually no surveillance at all.
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āWeāre used to being No 1 and this technology is all over the country,ā said Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport, who heads a coronavirus sequencing effort there. Instead, he said, when alarms were raised about the new mutation spreading rapidly in the UK, āwe were in the dark. With so few samples, the detective work becomes more like seeing a mirage in the desert.ā
