Coronavirus, covid-19 | It has detected more than 12,000 mutations in the coronavirus

Infection rates are skyrocketing across Europe, but deaths don’t seem to follow suit.

This has led more and more people to wonder if the coronavirus has become less severe than it was before.

In France, among others, controversial microbiologist Didier Raoult has recently received attention for theorizing whether seven new virus mutations that have emerged are more contagious, but less deadly than before.

So far, it seems that the accusations of kinder versions of the virus are precisely accusations, but there is no doubt that the coronavirus mutates to a very high degree:

– The possible importance of the various genetic subgroups for the properties of the virus is still uncertain, writes the National Institute of Public Health in its latest report.

Also read: Nature: – For every 1,000 people infected with corona under the age of 50, almost no one will die

More than 12,000 variations of the virus.

And the virus exists in many variants:

“Although the virus mutates slowly, researchers have cataloged more than 12,000 mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome,” Nature writes in a review of virus mutations.

In Norway, there has been a great replacement of the most common varieties over time. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has created this illustration to show the changes over time:

– But researchers can detect mutations faster than they can understand them. Many mutations have no effect on the virus’s ability to spread or cause disease, because they do not change the shape of the protein, and mutations that actually change the shape of the protein have the greatest chance of damaging the virus, rather than enhancing it. adds Nature.

There is one mutation in particular that has caught the attention of researchers: a mutation called D614G, which affects the famous spike protein of the virus. The mutation, which appeared for the first time around January / February, took full control in a short time.

According to Nature, this variant appeared in more and more samples taken during the pandemic, and this summer it became almost exclusive, but it has not yet been possible to show that the mutation actually makes any changes to or from.

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The mutated version can be “immune”

The fact that the virus mutates can have both positive and negative effects.

For example, a mutation can make a vaccine no longer accurate, or antibody treatments that are soon on the way won’t work.

Also read: The body can get two different types of immunity to covid-19: the difference between antibodies and T cells

According to Nature, Rockerfeller University researchers have genetically engineered a variant of the virus, based on already discovered mutations, which cannot be stopped by the antibodies the body has produced after suffering a common COVID-19 infection.

If such a variant were to spread, it would mean that one could become infected again and that vaccine development must go back to the beginning.

A more contagious variant of the virus may be good news

But the mutation of the virus can also be very good news. What researchers are hoping in part is what happened to the Spanish flu 100 years ago: it went from being extremely deadly to ending up as a seasonal flu.

“When the virus infects many people, it tends to be less deadly and more contagious,” said Donald G. McNeil, a New York Times expert on covid-19.

Explain the mechanism as follows:

– If the virus mutates in my body and becomes more deadly, then I have two variants of the virus in my body. Let’s say I then infected a person with each of the viruses – there is a greater chance that the person who gets the deadliest variant will go home, lie down, and die. The person who gets the less lethal variant is more likely to go to a disco and infect 40 people, he says.

– And if this happens many times, the virus will always naturally move further in the direction of being more contagious, but less deadly, because it is always the one that spreads the most when the virus splits.

Also read: The most optimistic estimates from health authorities: In a year we can return to normal