Abigail BanerjeeFebruary 26, 2021 10:43:26 IST
With ‘Mrs. Rona’, better known as the coronavirus, celebrating her first birthday since she came into our lives, words like epidemic, PPE, antibodies, antigens, have grown in demand and popularity, and now she’s part of us Part of the daily vocabulary. Many of us now understand the complex process of vaccine development, the clinical trials and regulatory approvals that go through it, before it can be rolled out. We live and we learn.
With the SARS-CoV-2 virus rapidly ‘mutating’, new ‘types’ of viruses have emerged in many parts of the world. In the pre-Covid-19 era, we may have used this new slice of information to impress friends or family at dinner or a cocktail. But let’s be honest, there’s so much variation in the questions, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
Let’s dive deeper then and understand the basics …
What is a virus?
Before the Kovid-1p epidemic, we had heard vaguely about the viruses that cause Ebola and diseases in Guinea, swine flu, or bird flu, AIDS, etc. in India and Russia. We now know that the SARS-Covi-2 virus causes covid. -19 disease.
According to a report by Scientific American, The science community has debated the definition of a virus for many years; First as a poison, then as a life-form and then as a biological chemical.
Today, viruses are considered to be somewhere between living and non-living things.
a Virus Protein is made up of a core of genetic material (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protective coat. They can leach on host cells and use host cell machinery to multiply its genetic material. Once this replication process is complete, the virus leaves the host, emerging or exiting the cell, destroying it in the process.
Viruses cannot replicate on their own, but once they attach to the host cell, they can nail and affect the behavior of the host cell in a way that harms the host and benefits the virus.
What is stress?
According to a report in A Stress Conversation, Is a type that is made differently, shows different physical properties and behaves differently than its parent virus. These behavioral differences can be subtle or obvious.
Cornavirus, like Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cavi-2), is studded with protein “spikes” that attach to receptors on their affected cells. SARS-CoV-2 is one of the few known species in the coronavirus family, including SARS and MERS viruses.
Experts believe that the term strain is frequently used.
“There’s a strain of coronavirus. It’s SARS-Covy-2. It’s a single strain, and that’s the strain types,” Independent Said Tom Connor, a professor at Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences.
What is change?
Viruses are made up of an index of both DNA and RNA, which is basically a string of nucleotide characters that code the genes in all organisms. Any change in these characters is called a mutation, and it occurs when the virus sequence replicates itself. Mutations occur very randomly in viruses – a fact that can work for or against us in an epidemic situation. Mutation can be beneficial to the virus and make it stronger, or it can be harmful and reduce its virulence.
SARS-COV-2, unlike the influenza virus, contains a protein known as a proofreading enzyme. The enzyme is the same as what a copy editor does in a newspaper, to check spelling errors on a paper. This enzyme will modify based on the original virus sequence. So, if there were any changes that have occurred due to random changes, he will try to correct them.
Like the human copy editor, sometimes the change will pass the proofreading enzyme and remain. As the mutant replicates the virus particle, the entire genome, including the site of its mutation, is duplicated and the virus is passed on through future generations.
So, how does one know that a virus has mutated? That’s where a virologist comes in. Virologists are working tirelessly to index all types of infections. The original virus, found in Wuhan, is being used to compare mutant coronavirus variants.
What is a type?
Simply put, “one type is a version of a virus that has accumulated enough mutations to represent a separate branch on a family tree.” Says Dr. Amesh Adalaja, Senior Scholar, Infectious Diseases Specialist, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Every mutation and strain of the virus is a variable, but not every type is a strain.
Most types are not a cause for concern. This is because the changes did not cause any drastic change in the virus in question. However, when a set of mutations occurs, it affects the behavior of the virus, the way it spreads, or the way it infects people. That’s when someone becomes a ‘type of anxiety’. An excellent example is the new varieties spreading to parts of the UK, Africa and Brazil.
Scientists are looking at different types of SARS-CoV-2 to see how genetic changes in the virus can affect its infectious (and thus, its spread), severity of illness, and the effectiveness of available vaccines. Says Dr. Tho. Thomas Russo, Professor and Chief of Infectious Diseases at the University at Buffalo in New York.
What are the new types of circulation?
A variant of SARS-Cavi-2, known as B.1.1.7, has been circulating in the United Kingdom since December 2020 and cases are now emerging around the world. Scientists have found some evidence that this type has a higher risk of death than other types.
Infographic which talks about all the latest SARS-CoV-2 variants spread. Image Credit: European Center for Disease Prevention and Control
In South Africa, another type of SARS-Co-2, known as BR.3.351, emerged. It has some similarities with the UK variant and can also re-infect people who have received improvements from other COVID-10 variants. There is also some evidence that the Strazeneca and Moderna vaccines are not effective against this variant.
A type called P.1 has emerged in Brazil, and was first found among the people Travel Japan from a South American country. There is some evidence to suggest that this variant may affect the response of antibodies to the virus. Mutation of the P1 variant prevents antibodies from recognizing the virus and inactivating it.
According to CDC, These three types share a distinctive mutation called D614G that propagates it more rapidly.
With new variables constantly filling up, it is important that we are at the top of our genome sequencing game. By doing this, we will be able to find new forms that are of public health concern (because they can be more contagious, cause more serious illness, develop a vaccine or immune system) and we can move on from that. However, ignoring these emerging new changes cannot be eliminated and in the long run it can be detrimental to us.
With no inputs S. Krishnaswamy, School Kama F Biotechnology, Retired Professor of Bioinformatics from Kamaraj University, Madurai
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