The COVID-19 variant, which currently dominates cases around the world, has a much faster transmission capacity than the original virus that first appeared in Wuhan, China. Research in the laboratory published in the scientific journal Cell on Thursday (02/07) concluded that the virus results from the mutation is transmitted more quickly among humans. But also mentioned, the results of research must still be checked again.
“In my opinion, the data shows that there is a single mutation that makes the virus able to replicate better and may also have a high viral load,” Anthony Fauci, a leading infectious disease expert from the United States, responded to the research results in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Fauci himself was not involved in the research.
“We do not have a connection, whether individuals (infected) will be worse because of this or not. Apparently, the virus replicates better and is more easily transmitted, but all this is still in the stage of being confirmed,” said Faici further.
Transmitted three to six times faster
Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Duke University in North Carolina, USA, collaborated with the COVID-19 genomic research group at the University of Sheffield’s in the UK in conducting the laboratory research.
“The latest variant of the corona virus, named D614G, makes small but significant changes in the protein sticking out of the surface of the virus used to attack and infect human cells,” the scientists found.
Experiments in the laboratory show that the new variant has the ability to triple to sixfold to infect human cells compared to the Wuhan variant.
Preliminary results of the experiment distributed last April were criticized for not proving that the mutation itself was responsible for the dominance of the new strain Covid-19. Critics say other factors could play a role.
The research team then conducted additional experiments, by analyzing data from 999 patients infected with Covid-19 in hospitals in the UK. The experts observed that the new variant had more virus particles in it, but had no effect on the severity of the disease in the patients studied.
The implications of the pandemic are unclear
What the implications of that finding have for the global Covid-19 epidemic remain unclear. At these stages, conclusions can only be seen as probabilities, because such experiments often do not reflect the dynamics of a pandemic. When the latest variant that spreads is suspected to be more easily transmitted, the virus might actually not easily spread among humans.
“The results of the experiment did not change the general situation very much. Still, other important research is needed to confirm whether this will affect the development of the Covid-19 vaccine or drug in a variety of ways,” said Nathan Grubaugh, a virologist at Yale School of Public Health.
“We do not expect that D614G will change our control measures, or worsen infection in individuals. The results of research reveal more about the science, where new findings are made with the potential to touch millions of citizens,” said British virologist.
(Ed.: as/ae)
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