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As the coronavirus spreads from person to person, and country to country, it continues to change.

For the most part, the changes are negligible, but there are some fears that COVID-19 could take on a mutation that becomes more contagious as the weeks and months roll on.

What’s important to know from the outset is that all viruses mutate, and the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is no exception.

The Guardian reports that “mutations arise when the virus replicates inside cells and mistakes are made in copying its genetic code”, but that the coronavirus is actually “quite stable”:

Scientists have analysed about 13,000 samples in Britain since mid-March and found that new mutations appear roughly twice a month. The rate of mutations is important because the faster a virus mutates, the quicker it changes behaviour. A fast-evolving virus can be harder to make a vaccine against because by the time it has been developed, the parts of the virus the immune system attacks might have changed.

As an example, the seasonal flu requires a different vaccine each year, due to the rapid mutation of the virus.

Around the globe, small mutations have been found within the COVID-19 strain, but there is one study that has raised a few eyebrows:

…scientists at Sheffield University and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico found similar mutations in the spike protein which the authors claim may help the infection to spread. While that is possible, other scientists believe it is too early to know whether any of the mutations are helping the virus thrive…

“From the point of view of people who are understandably concerned about this pandemic, I’m sure it will not matter which mutations the virus has. It’s not a good virus either way,” [Prof Nick Loman at the University of Birmingham] said. “We look to see if any of the mutations change behaviour and we don’t have any evidence for that.”

The Los Alamos hypothesis has been met with scepticism, with critics saying that the data doesn’t support such a big claim.

Some experts have said that the hypothesis is plausible but not yet proven, so bear that in mind before getting overly worked up.

More on the Los Alamos study via Bloomberg:

The Los Alamos paper, which was published online prior to peer review, describes how researchers combed through a global database of SARS-CoV-2 variants. They found one that seemed to dominate quickly as the virus spread throughout Europe. This variant had several mutations that distinguished it from the Asian version. One was dubbed Spike D614G.

“It’s in an important piece of the virus, and we need to study it to determine whether or not it’s a concern,” said David Montefiori, a Duke University virologist and author of the study. “What we’re claiming is that this mutation needs to be studied aggressively, quickly,” he added. “We’re not trying to blow things out of proportion.”

…For now, drugmakers rushing to create a vaccine for the virus have signaled they haven’t seen anything to be concerned about. Ugur Sahin, the chief executive officer of Mainz, Germany-based BioNTech SE, said he has “no doubt that from a vaccinology standpoint, we don’t see mutations which could emerge as vaccine-escape variants yet.” Moderna Inc.’s chief medical officer, Tal Zaks, has expressed similar views.

And Roche Holding AG, one of the world’s biggest players in diagnostics, has said it hasn’t seen any mutation that would compromise the accuracy of its Covid-19 tests.

Of course, as with most things related to the pandemic, everything is subject to change.

For now, at least, according to the experts, any virus mutation hasn’t been major enough to warrant massive concern in the medical fraternity.

I’m sure there’s a YouTube video out there that disagrees, but isn’t there always?

[sources:guardian&bloomberg]