A technician works on Covid-19 antibody neutralization testing at the African Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa. Credit: Bloomberg

A South African laboratory study using Covid-19 samples from an immunosuppressed individual over six months showed that the virus evolved to become more pathogenic, indicating that a new variant could cause more illness than the current predominant omicron strain. 

The study, conducted by the same laboratory that was to first test the omicron strain against vaccines last year, used samples from a person infected with HIV. Over the six months the virus initially caused the same level of cell fusion and death as the omicron BA.1 strain, but as it evolved those levels rose to become similar to the first version of Covid-19 identified in Wuhan in China.

The study, led by Alex Sigal at the Africa Health Research Institute in the South African city of Durban, indicates that the Covid-19 pathogen could continue to mutate and a new variant may cause more severe illness and death than the relatively mild omicron strain. The study […]

Read the Full Article