A mutation in the CCP virus that is believed to be more infected than the original strain that first emerged in Wuhan, China, has been discovered in Malaysia, health authorities said Sunday.
The D614G mutation, which has become increasingly common in the United States and Europe, was discovered by the Malay Institute of Medical Research in four CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus cases from two clusters in the country, said Director General Noor Hisham Abdullah, Malaysia Ministry of Health Sunday.
“It is found that it is 10 times easier to infect and spread more easily to other individuals, than spread by ‘superspreader’ individuals,” he said in a statement on his Facebook page.
What the D614G Mutation Means for Covid-19 Distribution, Fatality, Treatment, and Fax Https: //t.co/OhjK1QFiHk
– Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) August 15, 2020
Besides Philippines, meanwhile, the COVID-19 mutation has been detected in a number of samples of the virus. The country is currently studying to determine if the D614G strain, which has also been found in recent outbreaks in China, is more infected than the original strain, D614.
Philippines’s Secretary of State Maria Rosario Vergeire told a virtual briefing on Monday that although the mutation is said to have a higher chance of transmission or infection, there is still not enough evidence to say it will happen, Bloomberg reported.
The mutation has been discovered by scientists since February, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which claims there is no solid evidence to suggest the strain has led to more serious illness.
A June study by researchers in the United States suggested that the D614G strain could significantly increase its ability to infect cells. The mutation increased the number of ‘spikes’ on the CCP virus – that is the part that gives it its distinctive form. These spikes are what cause the virus to bind to cells and infect.
“The number – if density – of functional spikes on the virus is four or five times greater because of this mutation,” said Hyeryun Choe, one of the study’s senior authors.
Experts at Scripps Research suggested that the study might explain why early outbreaks in some parts of the world do not have overwhelming health systems as much as other outbreaks in New York and Italy.
The researchers said it is not yet known if this small mutation affects the severity of symptoms of infected people, or increases mortality.
The researchers conducting lab experiments say more research, including controlled trials – widely considered a gold standard for clinical trials, should be done to confirm their findings from test tube experiments.
Paul Tambyah, former consultant at the National University of Singapore and president-elect of the US-based International Society of Infectious Diseases, said a mutation is unlikely to change a virus to make potential vaccines less effective.
“The mutant affects the binding of the spike protein and not necessarily the recognition of the protein by the immune system, which would be triggered by a vaccine,” he said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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