Two children are the first in North Texas to be diagnosed with a variant plaguing India and the U.K.

May 20, 2:30 p.m .: This story has been updated to reflect new information from Dallas County that the two cases are in children under the age of 12.

Two cases of a coronavirus variant that has catastrophically spread in India were first discovered in the Dallas area, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center told the Dallas Morning News on Wednesday.

The virus, which the World Health Organization identified as a worrying variant last week, appears to be more contagious than older coronavirus variants. It also carries mutations that help it bypass human antibodies, although early tests show vaccines remain effective against it.

The samples were collected by researchers from UT Southwestern, who began genetic analysis of samples from coronavirus patients earlier this year.

The two cases in the Dallas area involve children under the age of 12 who cannot yet be vaccinated. They have no recent travel history, said a Dallas County spokesman. Further information on the patients was not yet available at the time of going to press.

“The presence of these variants underscores the importance of vaccination to protect yourself as these variants increasingly show that they can spread more easily,” said Dr. James Cutrell, infectious disease expert at UT Southwestern.

The variant with the name B.1.617.2 was first identified in India in December. Since then, it has become a dominant source of infection in the country, although it is unclear how the virus is fueling the pandemic compared to other factors such as large gatherings and low vaccination rates.

Variant B.1.617.2 has also spread quickly in the UK and threatens to derail the country’s planned reopening on June 21. British officials said they would have more data on the portability of the variant in the coming days.

Its spread in the UK has put US experts on high alert. They say that B.1.617.2 could follow a similar course as B.1.1.7, the variant first discovered in the UK last year. Variant B.1.1.7 is the dominant source of coronavirus infections in the USA and Great Britain today

“If you look at variant B.1.1.7, what happened in the US was basically more or less identical to what happened in the UK,” said Dr. James Musser of the Houston Methodist Hospital, whose team sequenced and analyzed thousands of coronavirus samples.

His team has discovered seven cases of variant first identified in India since March, including B.1.617.2 and the closely related subline B.1.617.1 in its Houston hospital system. He said it was too early to know if the variant family would become more dominant.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, B.1.617.2 accounts for about 1% of all coronavirus cases in the United States

The arrival of the B.1.617 variant family underscores the importance of genetic sequencing, which the CDC has been working to expand in the United States, experts said.

Since variants have different transmission rates, their early identification is important for accurate disease modeling and prognosis, which in turn helps health authorities better prepare for possible surges.

“One of the things that we will be watching very closely over the next week, next month, is this variant remaining in the minority or is it starting to overtake some of the other variants and become more dominant?” Said Cutrell. “When we see that, we are picking up evidence that this virus is different in terms of its rate of spread.”

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