–
Waspada.co.id – University of Indonesia microbiologist, Pratiwi Pujilestari Sudarmono explained that the mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 corona virus typical of Surabaya, called Q677H, is a natural thing.
He said the mutation occurred because the SARS-CoV-2 virus was an RNA (ribonucleic acid) virus. RNA viruses themselves mutate faster because the molecules that make up these viruses are more labile and do not have a checking process like DNA viruses.
As a result, RNA viruses change very often or mutate very quickly, which can have severe consequences for those who are infected.
“So regarding the mutation in Surabaya, this is an RNA virus. Every time it mutates, it changes rapidly, ”said Pratiwi in a virtual discussion, Wednesday (2/9).
Pratiwi said mutations in RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 can occur at one or more points. These changes then change the expression of the amino acids produced by the virus.
However, he said the Q677H mutation was still relatively small. He said it was not yet different from the SARS-C0V-2 virus.
Furthermore, Pratiwi said the government had to carry out more whole genome sequences or Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) to ensure the presence of people infected with the virus with mutation strains Q677H and D614G.
In that way, he said the government would later find out one of the reasons a location had a high number of positive cases or deaths.
“As long as it is still sporadic like this, we have only just detected mutations, but we cannot prove whether the mutations that occur will cause drastic or extraordinary changes,” he said.
On the other hand, Pratiwi said there was no specific drug to treat Covid-19 due to SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, he said some medical workers combined HIV-AIDS antiviral drugs with antibiotics to stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus from multiplying.
Not only that, medical officers also used Dexamethasone to treat Bird Flu. Supportive therapy in the form of cough medicine, fever medicine, and vitamins are also used before special drugs are available.
“But it is given to those with moderate to severe symptoms,” said Pratiwi.
He also said mutations did not affect treatment. Because, he stated that the mutations found were no different from the original virus, namely SARS-CoV-2. (cnnindonesia.com/data3)
– .
