New research indicates that one mutation of the coronavirus that occurred early on in the pandemic made it harder to stop the spread of the virus, The New York Times reports.
According to the newspaper, scientists have been skeptical that a mutation could make the virus more contagious. But new findings show that an early mutation, called 614G, could have helped the virus spread more easily between people.
The 614G mutation appeared in eastern China in January before spreading throughout Europe and New York City. It was all over the world in several months causing scientists to wonder why it spread so quickly.
Researchers say there is no proof that the mutation causes more severe symptoms, kills more people, or hinders a new vaccine. But new findings show the mutation infected people more than the original coronavirus out of Wuhan, China.
“When all is said and done, it could be that this mutation is what made the pandemic,” said David Engelthaler, a geneticist at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Arizona.
He told the newspaper the mutation likely caused the pandemic to become a widespread problem quicker than the original variant would have.
A study out of the United Kingdom found that outbreaks grew faster when the 614G variant was present. Another study found that hamsters infected with mutation infected each other more quickly than the original virus. Results of a third study indicated that the variant infected human bronchial and nasal tissue in a cell-culture dish more than its ancestor.
With several studies, scientists are becoming more convinced the mutation is what caused the pandemic to become so problematic.
“My being convinced comes from seeing the same thing repeatedly,” Dr. Trevor Bedford, associate professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, told the newspaper. “I think at this point that it is real.”
In some countries experiencing a “second wave” of cases, the mutation could be present where it wasn’t before.
“We have seen several countries, like Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan, that seemed to have it under control,” Dr. Thira Woratanarat, an associate professor in the faculty of medicine at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, told the newspaper. “But then there was a second wave.”
He said the mutation was found in a central coastal city in Vietnam after about 100 days with no reported cases of local transmission. Soon after, an outbreak spread to 10 cities and provinces.
“When the mutated virus lives in big groups, it spreads faster and makes it much more difficult to control,” he said.
Other researchers contend it isn’t the mutation at fault for the spread but lack of containment measures.
“The reason this is spreading is people are not having enough measures in place,” said Kari Stefansson, founder and chief executive of deCODE Genetics, a leading genome analysis firm based in Iceland. “It seems like extraordinarily poor politics to blame the inadequacies on the virus. They should be picking on someone their own size, not this tiny virus.”
Marisa Herman ✉
Marisa Herman, a Newsmax senior reporter, focuses on major and investigative stories. A University of Florida graduate, she has more than a decade of experience as a reporter for newspapers, magazines, and websites.
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