x
Breaking News
More () »

Health experts provide insight on the possibility of a new COVID-19 strand

According to Dr. Phillips another patient came in complaining of COVID-19 symptoms, but his test results didn’t make any sense compared with what they had ever seen.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The director of one local lab that tests for COVID-19 said she came across a strain of the virus that isn’t like anything she’s seen before.

Dr. Megan Phillips, Director of Laboratory Operations for Premier Health Texas, has her PhD in biochemistry. Phillips oversees the company’s freestanding ER labs where she works out of Premier’s Staples Street location inside the old Whataburger corporate headquarters building.

During the pandemic, Phillips said she has come across all kinds of unusual testing problems and results that have left her and her colleagues searching for more answers.

“We’ve recently seen a couple of cases in a couple patients who were walking and talking like COVID but couldn’t, no test was positive for COVID. It kind of broke all of our heads,” Phillips said.

According to Phillips, another patient came in complaining of COVID-19 symptoms, but his test results didn’t make any sense compared with what they had ever seen.

“My gut said based on either clinical presentation or abnormal lab results there was a high suspicion of potentially being a variant,” Phillips said. “We’re having some other information that could contribute to pushing the field forward.”

Phillips said she quickly sent off samples to Dr. Benjamin Neuman at Texas A&M University. Neuman is the Chief Virologist at the University Global Health Research Complex.

Neuman has been conducting Coronavirus research since 1996.

“We’ve got one of ours sent off,” Phillips said.  “I actually reached out to him and that was an interesting case where It looked like a long weird COVID type face. It was just something completely different than any of us had seen.”

Phillips said that the patient with the unusual test results seems to still be doing well according to his family.

Phillips hopes Dr. Neuman will be able to give her answers, and that man’s family as well on what kind of COVID-19 strain he actually had.

Before You Leave, Check This Out