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A coronavirus mutation recorded in the south of the UK is spreading faster than previous COVID-19 variants. Because of this, several European countries have already stopped flights to and from Great Britain, it is written German wave.
Prof Corbanov: The new COVID-19 mutation is probably already in our country
The new strain of coronavirus is said to be 70% more contagious. However, it is not necessarily more dangerous. Detection of a mutation is not uncommon. A new variant of the virus circulated in China half a year ago. In summer, another quickly spread from Spain across Europe. Viruses constantly mutate, and in most cases the mutation has little or no effect.
How does the body react to mutations?
The human body is generally capable of dealing with viruses on its own. It produces antibodies that protect it from virus attacks, creating immunity. However, when pathogens mutate and antibodies are programmed to an older version of the virus, they are no longer as effective.
The Minister of Health: The new strain is more contagious, but is affected by the vaccine
For this reason, for example, we regularly catch colds. In the previous cold, our body has produced the proper antibodies, but not the ones that help against the mutated virus.
However, there is no reason to panic, because not all mutations make the virus more dangerous. There are also changes that can even weaken it significantly.
How do mutations occur?
When the human body produces antibodies against a virus, the new variant of the infection is forced to change its shell so that the antibodies do not recognize it. To survive, the virus must change its foreign proteins and develop new strains.
Ivan Madjarov: No new strain, no hysteria and panic
To multiply, viruses use a call. a host cell into which they enter and to which they transmit their genome. Therefore, the cells of the body produce millions of copies of the virus. But with each of these reproductions, small errors occur in the reproduction of the information, and these errors change the genetic code of the virus: it mutates.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus, like all coronaviruses, is an RNA virus that mutates almost once a month. These different variants also explain why in certain parts of the world the virus causes infections of different severity and why the infection is transmitted differently in different people.
Are vaccines effective?
Britain became the first Western European country to launch a large-scale immunization campaign. But the new mutation doesn’t make the newly created vaccines meaningless. All these drugs are designed to encode the information of the coronavirus so that, despite the mutation, they stimulate our immune system.
Will the vaccine against COVID-19 be effective in case of new mutations in the virus?
Fortunately, more mutations are needed for the virus to change its proteins so that they can bypass our immune defenses. At the same time, however, we know that influenza viruses, for example, mutate very rapidly and vaccines must be adapted each season to remain effective.
Therefore, coronavirus vaccines may also need to be adapted in the future. But the information gathered during the crisis and the newly created production capacities will ensure the rapid supply of cheap vaccines in the future.
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