The variation of COVID-19 that currently dominates global cases is more infectious than the original strain that emerged in China, according to a new study published Thursday in the scientific journal Cell.
The results of laboratory research published in the journal suggested that the current mutation is more transmissible between people than the previous iteration of the virus, although the finding has not yet been proven.
“I think the data shows that there is a single mutation that actually makes the virus better able to replicate and perhaps have high viral loads,” United States infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci told the Journal of the American Medical Association about the study. , in which he was not involved.
“We don’t have a connection to whether a person worsens with this or not. It just seems like the virus replicates better and may be more transmissible, but this is still in the stage of trying to confirm that,” he said.
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Three to six times more infectious
Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Duke University in North Carolina partnered with the COVID-19 Genomics UK research group at the University of Sheffield. Scientists discovered that the current variant of the virus, D614G, makes a small but significant change in the protein that protrudes from the surface of the virus that it uses to invade and infect human cells.
The initial results shared in April were criticized for failing to prove that the mutation itself was responsible for its dominance. Other factors or opportunities may have played a role, critics said.
The research team conducted additional experiments, analyzing data from 999 British patients hospitalized with COVID-19. They noted that those with the variant had more viral particles in them, but it had no effect on the severity of their disease.
Meanwhile, laboratory experiments have shown that the variant is three to six times more capable of infecting human cells.
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The real-world implications remain unclear
At this stage, however, the conclusions can only be considered “probable”, since such experiments often do not accurately replicate the dynamics of a pandemic.
While the variant currently in circulation is considered more “infectious”, it may be less “communicable” among people.
Yale School of Public Health virologist Nathan Grubaugh, who was not involved in the study, said the results don’t change much for the general public.
“While significant studies are still needed to determine if this will influence drug or vaccine development significantly, we do not expect D614G to alter our control measures or worsen individual infections,” he wrote in a comment.
“It’s more of a live look at the development of science: An interesting discovery was made that potentially affects millions of people,” he added, “but we don’t yet know the full scope or impact.”
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