The laboratories at Brno University Hospital (FN Brno) have recorded 183 samples of the British coronavirus mutation since December, over a half of them in the last week. But there is promising news from a research center in České Budějovice, where scientists have verified that an antibody treatment for coronavirus could also be effective against the new mutation. Photo credit: Freepik / Illustrative Photo.
Brno, Jan 27 (BD) – On January 25th, FN Brno revealed the growing numbers of the British coronavirus mutation detected in the hospital’s laboratories. Comprehensive analysis of data from the hospital has found 183 samples of SARS-CoV-2 of the so-called British variant.
The State Institute of Public Health’s collection of information through the nationwide testing system allowed the hospital laboratory to track all PCR test results from September 2020 to today. 183 (6%) of the samples tested were the British variant. The laboratory detected the first case of the new variant on December 25th, 2020, but over half of the cases detected were found in the last week. So far, there have been no hospitalized patients confirmed to have this virus mutation in FN Brno.
The head of the laboratory of microbiology and immunology, Dr. Monika Dolejská, said: “Viruses mutate naturally, so it was only a matter of time before such a variant occurred. It is said that this variant is more contagious, but we are not worried about that. By actively monitoring this, we are well on our way.”
While numbers of the new variant are increasing, scientists at the Biological Center of the Czech Academy of Sciences in České Budějovice have discovered that an antibody treatment against Covid-19 developed in Switzerland is also effective against the British variant. Idnes.cz reports that the antibody effectively reduces the viral load in the lungs and can be life-saving for patients with a weak immune system.
