Survey: Coronavirus will mutate

As the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 makes its way around the world, there has been a prediction by some experts that the virus will mutate into something more deadly and become an even more frightening threat to humanity, writes Healthline, broadcasts Kosovo

“Mutation means unexpected and strange changes”, researchers write in a report published in “Nature”. But mutations are not necessarily a bad thing. The virus changes and this is part of the virus' life cycle. These transformations and changes are not always dangerous, and mutations can in some cases make a virus even weaker. Usually, transformations are so small that there is no apparent difference in the transmission of disease and the mortality rate” is said in research.

The new Coronavirus is changing, but very slowly

The new Coronavirus is an ARN virus, a collection of genetic material packaged inside a protein. Once an RNA virus contacts one cell, it begins to create new copies of itself that can continue to infect other cells. ARN viruses, such as flu and measles, are more prone to mutations and mutations than DNA viruses, such as liver herpes and papyrus virus(HPV).

In the ARN virus world, the difference is the rate. We expect RNA viruses to change often. This is just their nature, “thha Mark Schleiss, a pediatric specialist of infectious and investigative diseases at the Institute for Medieval Virology at Minnesota University.

COVID-19 makes no exception, and over the past few months it has been changing. But the virus has been changed at a very slow pace and when it changes, new copies are not far from the original virus.

Mutations are not making it more deadly.

The mutations of the virus, such as what was happening around Italy and also New York, do not seem to be more infectious or fatal than the original kind that appeared in Owan, China, at the end of December. Although there is a very rare chance that a virus can change to be more aggressive.

About all mutations will make some of the virus function less than before. The most common thing is for mutations to appear and die again quickly,” said Benjamin Neuman, head of the biology department at A&M University in Texas.

What does that mean for a vaccine?

Mutations will probably not interfere with the effectiveness of COVID-19. In fact, mutations ' slow and mild nature is good news for a vaccine.

“Virus is still so similar now to the initial sequence that there are really no reasons to worry that the changes will matter in terms of the vaccine,” said Neuman. Vaccines, in general, tend to attack the original version of the virus.

Take, for example, the flu vaccine

The annual H1N1Vaxine “Vaxin is still being used since 2009,” said Neuman. Usually, an old type of virus will “keep a lot of features” that will provide immunity against a new set of variants. But the flu virus changes rapidly and irregularly from year to year. According to the expert, our immune system has a terrible memory of flu viruses. Neuman said the immune response to the flu lasts only about a year before we need to be vaccinated again.

Schleiss says that a better analogy for COVID-19 is shytat. For more than 45 years, we've had a very efficient vaccine for fruit, shytes and rubeola (which are also ARN viruses).
These viruses have not changed enough to escape the protection provided by vaccines,” said Rose, so the same could be applied very well to COVID-19.

When we finally have a COVID-19 vaccine, it's very likely to protect people against <x1 most of the overwhelming amounts of COVID-19 for predictable changes,” said Schleiss.

Even if random mutations happen on the street, Schleiss believes that the worst case scenario is that we'll see some advanced infections, but we won't have advances with a disease that will threaten our lives.

How long will immunity last?

It is still unclear how long immunity will last after a person's immune system hits the infection. Once an infection is removed from the body, it leaves a mark on the immune system or antibodies that can identify and quickly fight the virus if it is to resurface in the future. Looking back at the SARS pandemic in 2003, people who were infected by SARSI were immune for about 2 years, providing them with an immunity against the virus. After about three years, SARS antibodies were reduced and people had a higher chance of becoming infected.

COVID-19 timeline may be similar

Within a few years, we will hope to have created the flock's immunity, from a vaccine along with natural immunity from many who get sick, to eliminate the disease. Even if, for years, COVID-19 antibodies will be weakened and the virus returns to fight infection and will be ready to fight. Of course, there is no way to predict exactly what will happen and how long people's immunity will last. “Natera doesn't work that way. Time will tell,” Schleiss said.

Coronavirus has already been changed several times, and this has caused people to become more concerned, but according to experts, they are extremely similar to the original virus that spread to Wuhan, so because of these very small changes, a vaccine is likely to protect people against this infection.