Chat message

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.383 [SLACK_000597] · slack_pm:msg:03989

Date: 2021-01-11 15:32
Type: chat message · slack
recipient: Robert F. Garry, Edward C. Holmes, Andrew Rambaut
speaker: Kristian G. Andersen

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Yup, I talked to Helen Branswell earlier today and I mentioned this exact point too - I'm not sure we have good data suggesting that e.g., the RSA variant is indeed more transmissible (even the data showing it's displacing other lineages is a little lacking - at least what I have seen).

In context

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2021-01-11 15:18 Andrew Rambaut open

South Africa high but the area where the variant took off is really high - urban, dense, deprived.
2021-01-11 15:21 Kristian G. Andersen open

Yup - seems plausible that immune escape might be the most likely explanation here - whether linked to natural immunity or vaccine induced. Why that would lead to increased transmission, I'm not quite sure I understand - except if e.g., high ACE2 binding is associated with both escape and transmission (not implausible).
2021-01-11 15:24 Kristian G. Andersen open

It's all very interesting - although to be honest, I don't need any additional excitement at the moment. I just want toget back to being a totally anonymous scientist (with 323 followers on Twitter) looking at Ebola and Lassa genomes. SARS-CoV-2 is a little too exciting for my liking.
2021-01-11 15:30 Andrew Rambaut open

It could be that the UK one is the only one that is inherently more transmissible (perhaps because of the 681H?).The other two are only taking off in hi-prevalence areas. We will see as more of those arrive in much lowerprevalence areas
2021-01-11 15:32 Kristian G. Andersen

Yup, I talked to Helen Branswell earlier today and I mentioned this exact point too - I'm not sure we have good data suggesting that e.g., the RSA variant is indeed more transmissible (even the data showing it's displacing other lineages is a little lacking - at least what I have seen).
2021-01-11 15:32 Kristian G. Andersen open

(No question about the UK lineage though).
2021-01-11 15:33 Andrew Rambaut open

Agree. No comparative rates for RSA. It is just fast growing.
2021-01-11 15:33 Andrew Rambaut open

Although... there is a Finnish import of the RSA variant that has 681H.
2021-01-11 15:34 Andrew Rambaut open

(convergence to the same set of mutations)

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