New coronavirus strain more contagious than original - study
The strain was originally seen
spreading in Europe, after which it spread to the rest of the world and
is currently the most common strain.
Technical Area 21 at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A
coronavirus study by
several researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New
Mexico, where the atomic bomb was invented, claims that a new strain of
the novel COVID-19 is more contagious than the original form of the
virus.The study, which has
yet to be peer-reviewed, looked at
14 mutations in the "spike protein,"
which mediates the infection of human cells and is therein targeted by
most attempted vaccines for the virus. Of those mutations, one stood
out, according to the study, for spreading much more aggressively than
the original strain of the virus.
That
same mutation was originally seen spreading in Europe, after which it
spread to the rest of the world. That is currently the most common
strain. This was found through a computational analysis of thousands of
coronavirus sequences found around the world by the Global Initiative
for Sharing All Influenza Data, the
Los Angeles Times reported.The
report claimed that people who catch this strain are at an increased
risk of catching the illness a second time, which is why the authors
felt that an early warning was necessary so that vaccines and drugs that
are in development may be effective against the mutated strain,
according to the
LA Times.Because
of the rate at which this new strain is spreading, it is possible that
it is more infectious than the previous strains of the virus. The reason
is not yet known.According to the
LA Times, responses to
the study were
generally positive, if a bit hesitant towards the study. Biochemistry
professor from University of Iowa Charles Brenner said that researchers
looking into coronavirus are keeping their eyes peeled for such studies,
and that it is a useful paper. However, the study does not indicate
that the new strain makes people more sick, and so the risk is put in
question.Co-director of
Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development Dr. Peter Hotez
said that the study's conclusions need to be investigated further,
according to the
LA Times. Without experimental verification, the claims in the study are all theoretical, Hotez explained.The
main concern is that because many treatments that are being developed
for coronavirus target the spike protein of the original strain, it may
not be effective on the new one.
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