Podcast 631: UK COVID-19 Mutation

<p><strong>Contributor: Gretchen Hinson, MD</strong></p> <p><strong>Educational Pearls:</strong></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Viruses mutate frequently and a new variant of COVID has been found in the United Kingdom.</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mutations typically occur due to transcription errors during virus replication leading to slight changes in the virus which can alter its virulence, and this UK mutation has shown more infectivity.</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">The UK variant was first identified on 9/20/20 and sequenced in October</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">The variant has a mutation of the spike protein with increased receptor binding capacity, making it more efficient at infecting cells</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Children seem to be more susceptible to this variant as compared to the prior COVID strains.</span></li> </ul> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">1)</span> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">Tang JW, Tambyah PA, Hui DS.</span> <a href= "https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(20)30786-6/fulltext#articleInformation"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Emergence of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant in the UK.</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">J Infect. 2020 Dec 28:S0163-4453(20)30786-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.12.024. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33383088.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Summarized by Jackson Roos, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">AMA PRA Category 1 credits™</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at</span> <a href= "http://www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cm