Coronavirus Has Mutated Into At Least 30 Different Strains
A new study from China analyzed the strains from 11 randomly chosen coronavirus patients, and detected 30 different mutations, 19 of which were previously undiscovered. Some of these mutations could lead to functional changes in the virus’ spike protein, the protein the coronavirus uses to attach itself to human cells.
The most aggressive Covid-19 mutation strains were found to generate as much as 270 times as much viral load as the weakest strains. The aggressive strains also killed human cells the fastest. This has important implications for the treatment of coronavirus, as several different strains have been found throughout the world. So far, the virus has been treated worldwide as one disease and patients receive the same treatment regardless of the strain.
The United States, which so far has had 1,193,813 cases with 70,802 deaths (as of 5/6/20; just under 6% mortality) has shown different mutations of the virus. New York and the eastern coast show a strain similar to that found in Europe, while the western US has shown similarities with strains found in China.
Terry Pfau DO, HMD