Texas woman, 40, dies from UK 'Super COVID' strain spreading across the US - as TWO new homegrown variants of the virus are detected in America sparking fears case numbers could EXPLODE

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A 40-year-old Texas woman has died from the highly contagious UK strain of COVID-19. 

Felicia Parker passed away at a Houston hospital on Saturday, five days after she was admitted to the facility because she was having trouble breathing. 

Her family told ABC13 that subsequent testing confirmed that Parker had contracted the UK variant of the coronavirus, known as B 1.1.7 and dubbed 'super-COVID' because it is feared to be up to 70 percent more transmissible.  

Relatives say they have no idea how Parker contracted that particular variant of the disease. If confirmed, she will be the first American to die of the UK variant. 

Texas is one of at least 13 states battling a new COVID-19 variant. Its first and only confirmed case of the new variant was reported on January 7, in a Harris County man. 

So far, at least 88 'Super COVID' infections have been detected in 13 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin, Ohio yesterday reported two totally new US variants. 

While the UK's 'super-covid' is thought to be more transmissible, doctors say it is not more deadly.  

Felicia Parker, 40, passed away at a Houston hospital on Saturday after testing positive to the highly-infectious UK stain of COVID-19 

Texas is one of at least 12 states in the US with one or more case of the UK 'super-covid' variant 

'The average infection rate went from about 10% to about 15%,' Houston infectious disease specialist, Dr Linda Yancey, told ABC13. 

'We do know that the new strain is in the Houston area. The Houston Health Department has detected it.' 

State health officials have not confirmed whether the virus spread to and killed Parker, or anyone else. 

But Texas's patient zero had no recent travel history, suggesting the B117 variant was already spreading in his county, where Parker also lived. 

Relative Romeka James told news network KTRK that Parker first fell ill over the holidays. 

The mom-of-two had recently been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. 

Diabetes put her at high-risk for becoming severely ill or dying after contracting COVID-19, no matter which variant she caught. 

But Parker's turn for the worse came alarmingly fast, leaving her family distraught. 

'This is serious. 'This is not just another person. This is someone's mother, someone's sister,' James stated. 

'We have to be really safe, we have to follow the CDC guidelines. It's not just another number. It's somebody'. 

A GoFundMe account has been set up for Parker, who did not have life insurance. 

Parker's death comes as the US is on high alert over new variants of coronavirus and scientists and physicians are carefully watching to see how 'super-covid' will shape the trajectory of the pandemic. 

At least 88 people in the US have the variant that was first spotted in the UK last month. 

Data from the UK suggests it is up to 70 percent more infectious. 

So far, cases are scattershot in the US, but American labs are also just beginning to ramp up testing for the new variant - so it could easily be more widespread than realized. 

In Texas, like Colorado and New York, the first case of the UK variant was in a person who had not travelled recently, suggesting that the variant could have been spreading for weeks before it was detected. 

Countless others in Harris County - including Parker - may have contracted it by the time the first man known to have the UK variant of coronavirus there was identified. 

Relatives say they have no idea how Parker contracted that particular strain of the disease. The mom-of-two did not have life insurance 

Meanwhile, other variants of COVID-19, originally detected in South Africa and Brazil, have shown up in the US. 

And Ohio scientists reported on Wednesday that they had identified two entirely  new, homegrown US variants of coronavirus. 

One has mutations virtually identical to what are seen in the UK,South Africa and Brazil variants. 

A second variant found in Ohio is completely new. It has three distinct mutations, and is already thought to be dominant in Columbus, the state's most populous city.  

Many have criticized US health agencies for failing to adequately detect and track these new strains that have somehow made their way into the country. 

Health experts say the variants provide cause for the Trump administration to ramp up nationwide vaccination efforts, which have been lagging since the rollout started in December.   

The vaccines are said to be effective against those strains.   

Alarmingly, however, the US has now detected its own homegrown 'super-covid' variants that are more infectious than the most common coronavirus types.

Alarmingly, however, the U.S. has now detected its own homegrown 'super-covid' variants that are more infectious than the most common coronavirus types. Pictured: a patient being treated for COVID-19 in California on Tuesday  

One of the new, more infectious variants has already become dominant in Columbus, Ohio, where it was discovered. This unique US variant has three mutations not seen in the others from the UK and South Africa. 

So far, this homegrown variant has been seen in about 20 samples since Ohio State University (OSU) scientists first detected it in December. It's now present in most of the samples they are sequencing.  

A second variant has mutations identical to the UK variants, but arose completely independently on American soil, according to Ohio State University scientists. Just one person with this variant has been found. 

'We are now in a period where the virus is changing quite substantially...so we are concerned,' Dr Daniel Jones, one of the Ohio State University (OSU) scientists involved in the discovery, told local press. 

It comes after Dr Deborah Birx warned over the weekend that the patter of COVID-19 case spikes suggested the US could already have its own 50 percent more infectious 'super-covid' variant. 

Scientists are quite sure both American variants are more infectious, but don't know yet whether they will be immune to vaccines.