Why does the coronavirus mutate? How do we stop it from becoming more dangerous?
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Why does the coronavirus mutate? How do we stop it from becoming more unsafe?
You've probably heard of the new strains popping upwards around the world. What does it hateful for us and our vaccination plans? An infectious diseases doctor breaks it down.
An electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round gold objects), the virus that causes COVID-nineteen, emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab and isolated from a patient in the United states. (Photo: Reuters/NIAID-RML/Handout)
19 Mar 2022 08:17AM (Updated: 08 Aug 2022 02:41PM)
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed our lives. From mandatory mask-wearing to safe distancing, testing, tracing and isolating cases, nosotros've all been doing our part for the past year in our own coronavirus special edition of Survivor to outwit, outplay and outlast the virus.
The approval and use of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines past Singapore in recent months are further examples of how we're slowly adapting to counter the spread of the disease.
In that location are two or iii COVID-19 mutations happening every month.
But just as we've had to brand changes to our daily lives, SARS-CoV-two (the virus that causes COVID-19) has also been adapting – or rather, mutating – to ensure its survival.
"This virus is relentless. It is very smart and is always one step ahead," said Dr Ling Li Min, an infectious diseases physician from Rophi Clinic.
Dr Ling was a speaker at a recent webinar nether Mediacorp's ongoing virtual health and health event Body And Soul Fair, where she explained just how vaccines work to incorporate the spread of COVID-19 equally well as its effects on stopping it from mutating into future, more than unsafe new strains.
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WHAT ARE MUTATIONS?
Yous would have heard about the new coronavirus strains, and how the regime are warning that they are more hands transmissible. One, known every bit B117, was reported by the Uk, while the other, B1351, has spread widely in South Africa. There has also been a Brazilian strain known as P1.
So why and how do mutations happen? "All viruses mutate. It's part of their survival tactic," said Dr Ling. This process takes place when a virus infects a healthy person and replicates itself in its new host. Most of the time, the mutations are small and don't affect the way the virus works.
Merely occasionally, errors occur when the virus reproduces, which is what a mutation is, she said. "The extent of fault increases the more times the virus replicates. By infecting more people, the risk of replication errors increases," she said.
VARIANT VS STRAIN
Like a wrongly photocopied set of instructions, the new virus cell starts to carry differently from its parent cell. From there, two things can arise: A variant or a new strain. "A variant occurs when the replicated virus' design has changed just because the change is so slight, its behaviour is all the same very similar to its parent cell," explained Dr Ling.
The new strains accept the ability to transmit more than rapidly, and possibly, the ability to cause more than severe disease but that even so needs to be confirmed.
Only when the errors are so neat that the new copy'south behaviour is very different from its parent, you have a new strain, she said.
Since it takes many mutations and variants to form a new viral strain, you can await the extent of errors to be high. The Great britain and Brazilian strains, for example, are found to accept 17 mutations, while the South African strain has undergone 21 mutations, shared Dr Ling at the webinar.
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Every bit a upshot, the new strains tend to end up exhibiting "behaviours that are more than virulent, more unsafe compared to the parent strain", said Dr Ling, calculation that there are two or 3 COVID-19 mutations happening every month.
EASIER TO INFECT
Regardless of the strain, SARS-CoV-2 has spike protein that "sits outside the wall of the virus", said Dr Ling. Studies take shown that subsequently mutation, the spikes get "flatter then the virus tin can enter a human jail cell more easily". In other words, the virus is meliorate able to evade the host's immune system, she said.
For example, the Uk and South African strains contain a mutation that lets them bind more finer to human being cells, according to Dr Ling. Meanwhile, the Southward African and Brazilian strains are better at evading our immune arrangement due to their mutations.
This virus is relentless. It is very smart and is always one step alee.
Each time a new strain emerges, information technology is associated with increased clusters of COVID-19 cases, said Dr Ling. "They have the ability to transmit more rapidly, and perhaps, the ability to cause more severe affliction simply that still needs to be confirmed."
Tin can VACCINES Adjourn MUTATIONS?
The answer depends on how fast the vaccination accept-up rate is. "If the rate of vaccination exceeds the rate of infection, it gives the virus less of a risk to mutate," said Dr Ling, bringing back the point that mutations occur when more than people are infected.
Already, some studies suggest that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines may exist "less effective against the South African strain", said Dr Ling. Nevertheless, both vaccines even so piece of work against the UK strain, according to studies, she added. "Neither company has released data regarding the Brazilian strain."
And so should you still get vaccinated? Definitely. Even for those who have recovered from COVID-19, Dr Ling'south advice is to still get the vaccine. "The duration of the amnesty is so far unknown, although we look it to last up to three months. Also, there have been cases of re-infection."
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Since Mar iv, the fully vaccinated (completion of two doses) in Singapore stands at iii.8 per cent. "That's slightly more than one-half a meg that take been vaccinated, or about x per 100 persons," she said.
If we want herd immunity to piece of work without the employ of safe measures, we need at to the lowest degree 70 per cent of the population to be vaccinated, she said.
Every bit it turns out, that goal is not just a Singapore-centric only a global one, said Dr Ling, for international travel to resume. And it is a manner – or perhaps the manner – to stay ahead of COVID-nineteen.
The online Torso And Soul Off-white runs until Mar 21. For more details on other online shows and talks to take hold of, visit https://bodyandsoul.sg.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/wellness/covid-vaccination-coronavirus-mutations-237871
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