First Identified Cases of SARS-CoV-2 Variants B.1.1.7 in Minnesota — December 2020–January 2021

Details

• Personal Author:
  Firestone, Melanie J. ; Lorentz, Alexandra J. ; Wang, Xiong ; Como-Sabetti, Kathryn ; Vetter, Sara ; Smith, Kirk ; Holzbauer, Stacy ; Meyer, Stephanie ; Ehresmann, Kristin ; Danila, Richard ; Lynfield, Ruth
• Corporate Authors:
  Minnesota. Department of Health. ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)Epidemic Intelligence Service. ; Center for Preparedness and Response (U.S.)Division of State and Local Readiness. ; University of Zambia. School of Veterinary Medicine. ; Zambia National Public Health Institute. ; Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (Oxford, England) ; CDC Zambia. ; Hokkaido University (Research Center for Zoonosis Control) ; Zambia. Ministry of Health.
• Description:
  On January 9, 2021, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced the identification of the SARS-CoV-2 Variants of concern (VOC) B.1.1.7, also referred to as 20I/501Y.V1 and VOC 202012/01, in specimens from five persons; on January 25, MDH announced the identification of this Variants in specimens from three additional persons. The B.1.1.7 Variants, which is reported to be more transmissible than certain other SARS-CoV-2 lineages*,† (1), was first reported in the United Kingdom in December 2020 (1). As of February 14, 2021, a total of 1,173 COVID-19 cases of the B.1.1.7 Variants had been identified in 39 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (2). Modeling data suggest that B.1.1.7 could become the predominant Variants in the United States in March 2021 (3).
  
  The B.1.1.7 Variants has a mutation in the spike protein that causes S-gene target failure (SGTF) in the Thermo Fisher Scientific TaqPath COVID-19 reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. The overall RT-PCR result is positive but is negative for the S-gene target and positive for the other two assay targets; SGTF has served as a proxy for identifying the B.1.1.7 Variants (1). The MDH Public Health Laboratory (MDH-PHL) requested SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR–positive specimens with SGTFs collected during November 1, 2020–January 12, 2021, from clinical laboratories that used the TaqPath assay, and 30 specimens were received. An additional specimen that had been collected from a household contact of a person with an SGTF specimen was requested and obtained from a clinical laboratory using another COVID-19 assay that does not detect SGTFs. MDH-PHL conducted whole genome sequencing to analyze the 31 specimens.§
  
  Suggested citation for this article: Firestone MJ, Lorentz AJ, Wang X, et al. First Identified Cases of SARS-CoV-2 Variant B.1.1.7 in Minnesota — December 2020–January 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 17 February 2021.
  
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• Subjects:
  Clinical Laboratory Techniques Contact Tracing CoronaVirus Infections/Diagnosis COVID-19 Testing Mutation SARS-CoV-2/Genetics
• Source:
  MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2021; v. 70 Early Release
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota
• Pages in Document:
  3 pdf pages
• Volume:
  70
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:60b2dd779150cc59bc090cc101f82c95df86a55b545e41aa8fd99caa4c57a93b188fdf4db213e12d3c283c2c14b350212601dcf2831ca0d1e66f7aeda19710e4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/102808/cdc_102808_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 304.92 KB ]