德尔塔变异毒株更危险，也更难被检测
德尔塔变异毒株正在全球肆虐。这种高传染性和快速蔓延的冠状病毒突变（它可能反过来产生更多的变体）正在重创欧洲和印度，并在美国的新感染病例中占据越来越大的份额。
应对新冠病毒始终需要采取多管齐下的策略，包括病毒检测、追踪接触者、保持社交距离、戴口罩，并最终开展一场前所未有的疫苗接种运动。在免疫方面，初步证据表明，辉瑞（Pfizer）、阿斯利康（AstraZeneca）和Moderna疫苗在预防德尔塔变异毒株感染者发展成为重症、住院治疗乃至死亡方面都非常有效。Moderna疫苗甚至有望帮助接种者获得足以抵御这种毒株的抗体。但市面上常见的新冠病毒检测手段能够检测到德尔塔变异毒株吗？
简单来说：不一定。尽管德尔塔变异毒株（也被称为B.1.617.2）可能是新冠病毒的后代，但它带有独特的生物标记。就学术机构，以及雅培（Abbott）和罗氏（Roche）等医疗巨头提供的数十种商业新冠病毒测试手段而言，有一些可能无法检测到这种毒株。
对德尔塔变异毒株的检测，通常需要在更精确的水平上进行，而这通常涉及到聚合酶链式反应（PCR）检测平台。该平台往往可以更加精确、更加敏锐地发现冠状病毒内的基因变异。但这种水平的测试也比快速反应测试需要更多的时间，后者可能在半小时内出结果，尽管它会错过一些生物学细节。这些快速诊断方法或许能够检测出你是否感染了新冠病毒，但不一定可以检测出你感染的是德尔塔变异毒株。
例如，南卡罗来纳州的公共卫生部门并没有定期筛查德尔塔变异毒株。这意味着，只有少数与德尔塔变异毒株有关的病例被明确识别，尽管考虑到这种毒株在美国，特别是在南部和中西部传播得如此之快，真实的感染病例可能要高得多。
该州的公共卫生部门解释说，最初的新冠病毒测试将不得不接受额外的筛查，这需要对患者的样本进行更复杂的基因组测序，以确定它是不是德尔塔变异毒株病例，而这个过程往往受制于几家正在进行筛查的私人、州和联邦实验室的检测能力。
与此同时，一些公司已经着手开发快速检测方法，希望在不进行花里胡哨的聚合酶链式反应测试的情况下，检测到德尔塔变异毒株。一家名为Avacta的公司声称，其抗原测试能够检测到该变体。在饱受德尔塔变异毒株打击的英国，一些公司正在开发更复杂的聚合酶链式反应技术来监测这种毒株。
不管新冠病毒检测能否显示你感染了一种或另一种毒株，临床研究的总体信息都是明确的：接种疫苗是预防重症和保护他人的最佳方式，无论新冠病毒采用何种新化身。（财富中文网）
译者：任文科
德尔塔变异毒株正在全球肆虐。这种高传染性和快速蔓延的冠状病毒突变（它可能反过来产生更多的变体）正在重创欧洲和印度，并在美国的新感染病例中占据越来越大的份额。
应对新冠病毒始终需要采取多管齐下的策略，包括病毒检测、追踪接触者、保持社交距离、戴口罩，并最终开展一场前所未有的疫苗接种运动。在免疫方面，初步证据表明，辉瑞（Pfizer）、阿斯利康（AstraZeneca）和Moderna疫苗在预防德尔塔变异毒株感染者发展成为重症、住院治疗乃至死亡方面都非常有效。Moderna疫苗甚至有望帮助接种者获得足以抵御这种毒株的抗体。但市面上常见的新冠病毒检测手段能够检测到德尔塔变异毒株吗？
简单来说：不一定。尽管德尔塔变异毒株（也被称为B.1.617.2）可能是新冠病毒的后代，但它带有独特的生物标记。就学术机构，以及雅培（Abbott）和罗氏（Roche）等医疗巨头提供的数十种商业新冠病毒测试手段而言，有一些可能无法检测到这种毒株。
对德尔塔变异毒株的检测，通常需要在更精确的水平上进行，而这通常涉及到聚合酶链式反应（PCR）检测平台。该平台往往可以更加精确、更加敏锐地发现冠状病毒内的基因变异。但这种水平的测试也比快速反应测试需要更多的时间，后者可能在半小时内出结果，尽管它会错过一些生物学细节。这些快速诊断方法或许能够检测出你是否感染了新冠病毒，但不一定可以检测出你感染的是德尔塔变异毒株。
例如，南卡罗来纳州的公共卫生部门并没有定期筛查德尔塔变异毒株。这意味着，只有少数与德尔塔变异毒株有关的病例被明确识别，尽管考虑到这种毒株在美国，特别是在南部和中西部传播得如此之快，真实的感染病例可能要高得多。
该州的公共卫生部门解释说，最初的新冠病毒测试将不得不接受额外的筛查，这需要对患者的样本进行更复杂的基因组测序，以确定它是不是德尔塔变异毒株病例，而这个过程往往受制于几家正在进行筛查的私人、州和联邦实验室的检测能力。
与此同时，一些公司已经着手开发快速检测方法，希望在不进行花里胡哨的聚合酶链式反应测试的情况下，检测到德尔塔变异毒株。一家名为Avacta的公司声称，其抗原测试能够检测到该变体。在饱受德尔塔变异毒株打击的英国，一些公司正在开发更复杂的聚合酶链式反应技术来监测这种毒株。
不管新冠病毒检测能否显示你感染了一种或另一种毒株，临床研究的总体信息都是明确的：接种疫苗是预防重症和保护他人的最佳方式，无论新冠病毒采用何种新化身。（财富中文网）
译者：任文科
The Delta variant is wreaking havoc across the globe. The highly transmissible and rapidly spreading coronavirus mutation (which may in turn be creating even more variants) is battering Europe and India and contributing to a growing share of new COVID cases in the U.S.
Tackling COVID has always necessitated a multipronged strategy involving coronavirus testing, contact tracing, distancing, and masking procedures, and ultimately an unprecedented vaccination campaign. On the immunization front, initial evidence suggests that Pfizer’s, AstraZeneca’s, and Moderna’s COVID vaccines are all remarkably effective in preventing serious illness, hospitalization, and death among patients who contract the Delta variant. Moderna’s shot has even shown promise in producing antibodies that protect against this strain. But can the actual COVID tests on the market detect the Delta variant?
To put it simply: not always. While the Delta variant (otherwise known as B.1.617.2) may be the pathogenic offspring of the novel coronavirus, it carries distinctive biological markers that some among the dozens of commercially available COVID tests from academic institutes and medical giants such as Abbott and Roche may not be able to sense.
Testing for the Delta variant usually has to be done on a more precise level involving polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing platforms, which tend to be more accurate and sensitive to genetic variations within the coronavirus. But that level of testing also takes more time than a rapid response test which may return results within a half-hour but miss out on some of the biological details. Those faster diagnostics may be able to sense whether or not you’re generally infected with COVID, but not necessarily whether it’s the Delta strain specifically that’s afflicting you.
For instance, in South Carolina, Delta variants aren’t regularly screened for by the state’s public health department. That means that just a handful of Delta-variant linked cases have been specifically identified even though the true number is likely much higher given how quickly this strain is spreading in the U.S., particularly in the South and the Midwest.
An initial COVID test would then have to receive additional screening that involves more intricate genomic sequencing of a patient’s sample in order to home in on whether or not it’s a Delta variant case, and that process is reliant on a mishmash of private, state, and federal laboratories that are carrying out the screening, according to South Carolina’s public health department.
In the meantime, companies are already going to work on creating rapid tests which can detect the Delta variant without requiring all the bells and whistles of an intensive PCR test. One firm, Avacta, says its own antigen test can detect the variant. In the U.K., which has been hit hard by the Delta variant, more sophisticated PCR technology is being developed in order to keep tabs on the strain.
Regardless of whether a test can tell you if you have one COVID strain or another, the overall message from clinical studies is clear: Getting vaccinated is the best way to prevent serious illness and to protect others, no matter what new avatar the coronavirus takes.
