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+--- Thread: How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? (/thread-43872.html)
How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? - ketchim - 12-22-2020
Viruses often acquire small changes of a letter or two in their genetic alphabet
just through normal evolution ~
How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? - ketchim - 12-22-2020
[i]A bigger worry is when a virus mutates by changing the proteins on its surface
to help it escape from drugs or the immune system.[/i]
How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? - ketchim - 12-22-2020
In April, researchers in Sweden found a virus with two genetic changes
that seemed to make it roughly two times more infectious !
About 6,000 cases worldwide have been reported, mostly in Denmark and England
How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? - ketchim - 12-22-2020
Will people who had COVID-19 from an old strain be able to get the new one?
Will it undermine vaccines?
Probably not : Scott Gottlieb said on CBS “Face the Nation.”
“Unlikely,” said Oxford !
How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? - ketchim - 12-22-2020
Dr VK Paul, member of government think-tank Niti Aayog
said on Tuesday that the new strain of the coronavirus that has been spreading rapidly in the UK,
has not been detected in India yet.
How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? - ketchim - 12-22-2020
BUT the message is Clear : protect yourself by the use of PPEs
OR just stay at home and Relax/Chillax.
Its gonna be a great Christmas Pepperpot, Ginger Beer and Sorrel ~
How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? - ketchim - 12-22-2020
All viruses naturally mutate, and Sars-CoV-2 is no exception, accumulating an estimated one or two changes a month.
Mutations are generally a chance event that will have little impact on the properties of a virus.
"The very vast majority of mutations which we observe
in genomes of Sars-CoV-2 are there as passengers.
"They don't change the behaviour of the virus, they are just carried along."
Dr Lucy van Dorp, an expert in the evolution of pathogens at University College London (UCL).
How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? - ketchim - 12-22-2020
One mutation in the spike protein (known as N501Y) has been reported before in other countries
but not in the same combination and number of mutations, suggesting the same mutation
has evolved several times and may be important in some way
Another mutation in the spike protein (P681H) is thought to be of "biological significance"
A deletion (at position 69-70) has been linked in the past to mink farm outbreaks
and in patients with weakened immune systems who can incubate the virus for several months
How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? - ketchim - 12-22-2020
ketchim post=387237 Wrote:A deletion (at position 69-70)Mink outbreaks are a "spillover" from the human pandemic
has been linked in the past to mink farm outbreaks
[img ]https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/9529/production/_115258183_gettyimages-1228980027_minkdenmark.jpg[/img]
How do these new Covid-19 strains occur ? - ketchim - 12-22-2020
Hundreds of thousand of viral genomes have been analysed across the world !
[img ]https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/E0EC/production/_116208575_gettyimages-1214713816.jpg[/img]