SINGAPORE (Reuters) – An increasingly common mutation of the new coronavirus found in Europe, North America and parts of Asia may be more infectious, but appears less deadly, according to a prominent doctor of infectious diseases.
PHILO PHOTO: The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory disease first discovered in Wuhan, China, is seen in an illustration released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, US January 29, 2020. Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM / CDC / Handout via REUTERS
Paul Tambyah, a former consultant at the National University of Singapore and president-elect of the International Society of Infectious Diseases, said that evidence suggests that the proliferation of the D614G mutation in some parts of the world coincides with a drip in the death rates, suggesting it is less lethal.
“Maybe it’s okay to have a virus that is more contagious but less deadly,” Tambyah told Reuters.
Tambyah said most viruses become less virulent when they mutate.
“It is in the interest of the virus to infect more people, but not to kill them, because a virus depends on the host for food and shelter,” he said.
Scientists discovered the mutation as early as February and it has been circulating in Europe and the Americas, the World Health Organization said. The WHO also said there was no evidence that the mutation had led to more serious illness.
On Sunday, Malaysia’s director general of health Noor Hisham Abdullah called for greater public vigilance after authorities discovered what they believe was the coronavirus’ D614G mutation in two recent clusters.
Sebastian Maurer-Stroh of the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research said the variant was also found in the city-state, but that mitigation measures have prevented a large-scale spread.
Noor Hisham from Malaysia said that the D614G strain discovered that it had been infected 10 times and that vaccines that are currently in development may not be effective against this mutation.
But Tambyah and Maurer-Stroh said such mutations are unlikely to alter the virus to make potential vaccines less effective.
“(The) variants are almost identical and did not change areas that typically recognize our immune system, so there should be no difference for vaccines being developed,” said Maurer-Stroh.
Report by John Geddie and Chen Lin; Edited by Lincoln Feast
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