New York: New mutations discovered in sewage

Researchers have found evidence of corona mutations in New York sewage that may have developed resistance to certain vaccines. However, there is still no reason to worry.

Researchers from the City University of New York have been monitoring the city’s wastewater for a year and a half in search of traces of Covid. They keep track of the amount of traces excreted circulating in the different neighborhoods. Many cities do this. But the New York researchers have been making suspicious virus discoveries and examining them for some time.

The discovery worries virologist John Dennehy and his team: “Sequencing allowed us to identify the Covid variants that New York is dealing with right now. But beyond that, we encountered virus fragments that have a unique constellation of mutations. This structure, that we found in this New York variant that hasn’t been seen anywhere else in the world.”

Resistance to antibodies and vaccines

It is possible that the virus could already be preparing to overwhelm the immune system in a new form, says the research team, which also includes virologists from other US states. The traces found did not yet appear to be immediately ready for a new wave of the pandemic. Their proportion in the wastewater has risen and fallen along with the number of cases in New York.

Nevertheless, there is reason for vigilance, says Monica Trujillo, a microbiologist at Queensborough Community College: “We have discovered mutations that have developed resistance to antibodies or certain vaccines. And that could even be transmitted from a source other than a human.”

Origin still unclear

The scientists are particularly concerned with this question of the source: Where do the so-called cryptic traces come from? The researchers checked 5,000 other wastewater samples worldwide – but they found the new traces in only seven samples, all from New York. And there they only appeared in a few parts of the city. The mutation has not been detected in any patient tested so far.

It is possible that the mysterious traces came from the excretions of chronically infected people. But the researchers rather suspect that the virus discovered could have come from animals, says virologist Donnehy: “Of course, we found traces of animal species in the wastewater that people ate: cows, pigs, chickens, sheep, salmon. But none of these animals are alive in New York City and therefore cannot be a source. Unlike rats, cats and dogs.”

But while cats and dogs are known to be infected with Covid, they are out of the question when trying to find the source of the mutant. The scientists also looked for signs in blood and fecal samples of local rats, without success.

No immediate danger

So the mystery remains open. “As long as we don’t know the source of this mutant and don’t better understand what we’re seeing, we can’t rule out that this variant will eventually have consequences,” says Donnehy.

Yet the new traces of lineage do not appear to be spreading from quarter to quarter. There’s no reason to believe it’s immediately dangerous to humans, says microbiologist Trujillo. “There is absolutely no evidence that the virus particles that we have isolated from the sewage are in any way infectious. It is important for us not to worry people that they could become infected through the sewage. “

But at some point the Omikron variant came out of nowhere. And she shares some of her mutations with the unknown variant from New York. The research team now wants to investigate the mystery of its origin more intensively.