COVID mutants multiply as scientists race to decode variations
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April 4, 2021
When Bette Korber, a biologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, spotted the first significant mutation in the COVID-19 virus last spring, some scientists were skeptical. They didn’t believe it would make the virus more contagious and said its rapid rise might just be coincidence.
Now, 11 months later, the D614G mutation she helped discover is ubiquitous worldwide, featured in the genomes of fast-spreading variants from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. Meanwhile, new mutations are popping up in increasingly complicated patterns, spurring a drive by top biologists to devise new ways to track a fire hose of incoming genomic data.
Covid Mutants Multiply As Scientists Race To Track Shape-Shifting Virus Covid Mutants Multiply As Scientists Race To Track Shape-Shifting Virus The flood of new genome data is so great that the Los Alamos lab had to upgrade its servers to deal with the incoming data.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus could settle down and become a mere nuisance like the common cold. (File)
Highlights
Top biologists are devising new ways to track incoming genomic data
The HIV virus is notorious for its rapid mutation rate
When Bette Korber, a biologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, spotted the first significant mutation in the Covid-19 virus last spring, some scientists were skeptical. They didn t believe it would make the virus more contagious and said its rapid rise might just be coincidence.
I don t believe that there s anything to panic about at this point, Fauci told Insider.
That s because of a new study on T cells a type of white blood cell that plays a key role in our immune systems led by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which Fauci directs.
The results showed that people who d recovered from the original, or wild type, version of the coronavirus had T cells that could recognize the variants first found in South Africa, Brazil, and the UK. Why it s so important to get vaccinated? Because vaccination is not only going to protect us against the wild type, but it has the potential to a greater or lesser degree to also protect against a range of variants, Fauci said in a White House briefing last week.
Immunity to the coronavirus lasts at least 8 months after infection, study says naturalnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from naturalnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mutations: Does SARS-CoV-2 Have a Fixed Number of Moves in Its Arsenal? 05/04/2021
National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins holds a model of SARS-CoV-2 as he testifies on Capitol Hill, July 2, 2020. Photo: Graeme Jennings/Pool via Reuters/File Photo
London/Chicago: The rapid rise in different parts of the world of deadly, more infectious coronavirus variants that share new mutations is leading scientists to ask a critical question – has the SARS-CoV-2 virus shown its best cards?
New variants first detected in such far-flung countries as Brazil, South Africa and Britain cropped up spontaneously within a few months late last year. All three share some of the same mutations in the important spike region of the virus used to enter and infect cells.