Epsilon variant

alternative epsilon variant · alternative Epsilon Variant · alternative ε variant · alternative ε-variant · alternative Ε variant · alternative Ε-variant

1. The B.1.427 and B.1.429 strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

   Studies have shown the Epsilon variant is indeed more transmissible and has reduced susceptibility to bamlanivimab, which prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to consider it a variant of concern (VOC) until it became less frequent in June 2021.

   2021 December 7, Shangxin Yang et al., “Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 Epsilon Variant and Hospitalization Status by Genomic Surveillance in a Single Large Health System During the 2020-2021 Winter Surge in Southern California”, in American Journal of Clinical Pathology, volume 157, number 5, →DOI

   2 more examples

   To learn more about the characteristics of the Epsilon variant, the researchers tested the resilience against the Epsilon variant of plasma from people who were exposed the virus, as well as vaccinated people. The neutralizing potency of the plasma against the Epsilon variant of concern was reduced about 2 to 3.5 fold.

   2021 July 2, Leila Gray, “Epsilon variant mutations help spur COVID immune evasion”, in UW Medicine Newsroom, archived from the original on 21 Mar 2023

   The tendency of SARS-CoV-2 to become more infectious but less virulent with the epsilon variant is supported mechanistically by (1) the down-regulation of viral processing pathways seen in our multiomic analyses and (2) the lack of associations with increased hospitalizations.

   2022 December 1, Jasmine T Plummer et al., “US Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Epsilon Variant: Highly Transmissible but With an Adjusted Muted Host T-Cell Response”, in Clinical Infectious Diseases, volume 75, number 11, →DOI

   Synonyms: epsilon, Epsilon