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- James Galliger
- BBC Scientific and Medical Correspondent
Image posted, fake images
The rapid spread of the new strain of the Corona virus has raised the bar on mixing among millions of people as they prepare to celebrate the Christmas holidays.
The new situation led several countries to ban travel to and from Great Britain, whose authorities imposed the fourth level of measures to combat the Corona virus.
However, how did the new strain of the virus evolve in months from non-existence to becoming the most common form of infection in England?
Health officials in Britain believe that this new strain is more capable of spreading than the first strain, and although things are still in their infancy, it is shrouded in mystery and raises a long list of questions.
It is well established that viruses mutate all the time, and it is vitally important that we monitor the behavior of the virus as it changes.
Why worry about the new strain of the Corona virus?
This new strain combined factors that made it a cause for concern. The first of these factors is the speed of spread and the acquisition of the location of previous versions of the virus, which gives a start because you have control over the original strain.
The second factor is the ability of this new strain to develop genetic mutations that modify an important aspect of the virus’s behavior, and the third is the ability of these genetic mutations to allow the virus to infect cells more than before, which means an increase in the rate of susceptibility to infection.
Thanks to these factors, the spread of the Corona virus is easy in its new version.
However, we do not have any absolute certainty. New strains of the virus can become more widespread if the atmosphere is created for them in a place, time and appropriate, as happened in London, which only recently did not overcome the application of the second level of measures to combat the epidemic, but happened in few days to the fourth level.
More laboratory experiments are needed, but decision makers do not have to wait for the results of those experiments to implement precautionary measures to limit the spread of the new strain, Nick Lowman, a Covid 19 expert, told the BBC. Genomics Foundation in the UK.
How fast does the new strain of Corona virus spread?
This strain was first discovered last September, and by November it had a quarter of the number of people infected in London, before this percentage reached two-thirds in mid-December.
It is not difficult to determine the degree of control of the new strain on the swab results in some London medical centers.
Athletes try to compare the numbers in the field of the ability to spread different viruses, in an attempt to calculate the degree of superiority of this new strain of Corona virus over other strains.
But the difficult thing is to separate the patterns of human behavior and the degree of virus outbreak.
And the number cited by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggests the new strain is more likely to spread by as much as 70 percent.
Johnson said this can increase the rate of an infected person’s ability to transmit the infection to others by 0.4.
The extent of the spread of the epidemic is inferred by determining the rate of the person’s ability to transmit the infection to others.
The 70 percent figure was revealed in a lecture given by Eric Falls, a researcher at Imperial College London, on Friday.
Falls explained in his lecture: “It is too early to separate the matter … But from what we have seen so far, the new strain of Corona is spreading very rapidly, faster than the previous version of the virus itself. But it is It is important that we continue to monitor the behavior of this new version. ” “.
There is no fixed number that specifies the degree of infectivity of the new strain of coronavirus. The researchers point to figures above and below 70 percent.
How and when did the new strain of the Corona virus spread?
The new strain of the Corona virus is believed to have originated in the lung of an infected person in the United Kingdom or in another country with less ability to monitor the genetic mutations that the virus develops.
This new strain can be found in the UK, with the exception of Northern Ireland. However, they are abundant in London and in the east and southeast of England.
Data received from around the world show that the registered cases of the new strain of the virus in Denmark, Australia and the Netherlands correspond to people from the United Kingdom.
Another similar strain of the virus appeared in South Africa. It shares some of its genetic characteristics with the strain that appeared in Britain, but they appear to be different.
Has the world known a similar scene before?
Answer: yes; The virus, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, is not the same virus that is now spreading around the world.
And last February, D614G gene mutations occurred in the first Corona virus in Europe, and the new version spread around the world.
Meanwhile, another version called A222V also appeared in Europe, and has been specifically attributed to Spanish vacationers.
What do we know about new genetic mutations? LaverAnd Corona?
An initial study has so far detected 17 major mutations of the Corona virus.
Changes have been observed in the protein or spinal receptors that the virus uses as its primary weapon to bind to receptors on human cells before it penetrates them to recruit them to produce DNA. One of these changes is called spinal protein N501Y and another is called H69 / V70.
The virus is desperate to find a way to make it easier to penetrate the cells of the human body.
This last change, H69 / V70, weakens the capacity of the antibodies formed in survivors of coronavirus infection. So their forehead weakens in resisting any new attack launched by the virus on the body, according to Ravindra Gupta, a researcher at the University of Cambridge.
Where did the new strain of the Corona virus come from?
The virus is undergoing genetic mutations at an abnormally fast rate.
The most likely explanation is that the new strain originated in the lung of a patient suffering from a weakened immune system that rendered him defenseless against the Corona virus, which in turn found a colony favorable for the mutation in this patient’s lung.
Is the Corona virus getting deadlier in its new version?
There is no evidence for this, despite what is needed in terms of monitoring and follow-up.
However, the ability of the new strain to spread at a faster rate than its predecessors justifies concern given the increased pressure it places on hospitals.
Do vaccines work with the new strain of corona virus?
Yes, very surely. Or at least for now.
The three main vaccines provide a buffer against existing strains of the coronavirus.
Vaccines help the immune system attack many different parts of the virus, and even if parts of the virus have genetic mutations, vaccines continue to do their helper work for the immune system.
“But if we let the virus develop more genetic mutations, then we should be concerned,” says Gupta, a researcher at the University of Cambridge.
The researcher warns: “The virus has so far taken two steps on the road to avoiding vaccine attacks by developing genetic mutations.”
This fact is perhaps the most worrying. Just as this new strain represents the latest expression of the virus due to its ability to adapt and infect more and more people.
David Robertson, a researcher at the University of Glasgow, says: “The continued ability of the virus to develop genetic mutations that will help it avoid vaccine attacks is to be expected.”
This scenario places us in a position similar to that of the virus that causes influenza, which means the need for regular vaccine development.
Fortunately, our vaccines are easy to develop.
