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Viruses tend to undergo mutations and in most cases it can be a negligible change, but it can happen that the virus becomes more aggressive with each infection of us.
There is no clear evidence that the new variant of the coronavirus, which has been detected in south-east England, is more easily transmitted or causes more severe symptoms that would render the vaccine useless, according to BBC news.
However, there are two reasons why scientists are following it closely. First, because several cases have been reported in the most affected areas. It is a warning sign, however, it can be interpreted in two ways. One of them: the virus would have mutated to spread more easily and cause more infections.
But it will take laboratory experiments to determine whether this variant actually transmits faster than all the others.
The other problem that puzzles scientists is how the virus has mutated.
“It has a surprisingly large number of mutations, more than we would have expected, and some seem interesting.”said Prof. Nick Loman of the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK).
He also says that there are two notable sets of mutations, which have been given strange names.
Both are at the crucial protein peak (arrow), which is the key the virus uses to “open” the door in the cells of our body. The N501 mutation changes the most important part of the “arrow”. The arrow makes the first contact with the surface of our body cells, and any change that makes it easier for the virus to penetrate is likely to give it an advantage.
„It seems like a major adaptation“Said Professor Loman.
The other mutation, an H69 / V70 cleanse, has occurred multiple times before, including in infected mink. The concern was that antibodies in the blood of old patients were less effective in fighting the new variant of the virus.
Again, more lab studies will be needed to really understand what is going on.
Professor Alan McNally, University of Birmingham, said: “We know there is a variant, we don’t know anything about what this means biologically. It is too early to draw conclusions. “
Mutations in the spike protein lead to questions about the vaccine, because the three main variants, Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford, train the immune system to attack the “arrow.”
However, the body learns to attack various parts of this protein and therefore health officials are convinced that the vaccine will also act against this variant.
This is a virus that evolved in animals and made the leap to infect humans a year ago. Since then, it has counted about two mutations per month and between the first variant in Wuhan and the current one there are about 25 mutations.
The coronavirus is still “testing” different combinations of mutations to infect, experts say. But soon, mass vaccination will put another kind of pressure on the virus, as it will have to change to infect people who have been immunized.
If this causes the virus to develop, it may be necessary to constantly keep vaccines up to date, as in the case of influenza.
Publisher: DC
