A mutation of SQARS-CoV-2 has been observed by American scientists. It would make the coronavirus more contagious but without worsening its effects on health.
- A mutation may have made the coronavirus more contagious
- It concerns the protein that opens our cells to viral infection
- It does not seem to worsen the symptoms of Covid-19
What if the violence of the second wave of Covid-19 was due to a coronavirus that had become even more contagious? We can ask ourselves this question in view of the results of work carried out on nearly 5,000 patients by researchers at the Methodist Hospital in Houston (Texas, USA). According to them, yet another mutation of SARS-CoV-2 – it is called D614G this time and it is located in the spike protein that opens our cells to viral infection – could have made it more contaminating but fortunately without it aggravates the disease.
This study reveals that during the first wave of Covid-19 in Houston, the mutation in question had been observed in 71% of the viruses responsible for the infection, a proportion which soared to reach 99.9% during the second wave that hit Texas in the summer of 2020. And, according to the authors of this study, this trend would have been observed all over the world.
A mutation that has become the dominant form
Another study, conducted in July 2020 on 28,000 genomic sequences of the coronavirus, shows that the form of SARS-CoV-2 which carries the D614G mutation has become the dominant form. And according to work carried out on 25,000 genomic sequences, the viruses carrying this mutation are transmitted more easily, “perhaps because this mutation would have been present in the first viruses to arrive in Europe and the United States and would benefit from what the it is called the founder effect” which gives it a head start on other forms of the coronavirus or because this mutated virus “would more easily pass over our immune system”.
Stay one step ahead
The Houston Methodist Hospital team puts forward the thesis of pressure linked to the reactions of our immune system to explain the mutation of the coronavirus but does not provide any reason for its apparent greater contagiousness. “The virus continues to mutate as it crosses the world and it is important to continue to monitor it in order, in the event of a third wave, to see how it adapts to the neutralizing antibodies produced by our bodies, underlines Ilya Finkelstein, lead author of the Houston Methodist Hospital study and professor of molecular research at the University of Texas at Austin Every new infection can indeed produce dangerous mutations and it is necessary to stay one step ahead to s ensure the effectiveness of any treatments or vaccines”.
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