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The Six Strains of SARS-CoV-2

posted by martyb on Tuesday August 04 2020, @11:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the six-degrees-to-Kevin-Bacon dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

The six strains of SARS-CoV-2:

"The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is presumably already optimized to affect human beings, and this explains its low evolutionary change," explains Federico Giorgi, a researcher at Unibo and coordinator of the study. "This means that the treatments we are developing, including a vaccine, might be effective against all the virus strains."

Currently, there are six strains of coronavirus. The original one is the L strain, that appeared in Wuhan in December 2019. Its first mutation—the S strain—appeared at the beginning of 2020, while, since mid-January 2020, we have had strains V and G. To date strain G is the most widespread: it mutated into strains GR and GH at the end of February 2020.

Globally, strains G, GH and GR are constantly increasing. Strain S can be found in some restricted areas in the U.S. and Spain. The L and V strains are gradually disappearing.

Journal Reference:
Mercatelli, Daniele, Giorgi, Federico M.. Geographic and Genomic Distribution of SARS-CoV-2 Mutations, Frontiers in Microbiology (DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01800)

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Friday August 07 2020, @01:50AM (3 children)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Friday August 07 2020, @01:50AM (#1032634) Journal
    In relation specifically to viruses, the Oxford English Dictionary agrees with me. If you want to argue with the OED, knock yourself out. Yes, the OED was the first result I found. No need to cherrypick.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @04:59AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @04:59AM (#1032742)

    Cool, but that is not a medical dictionary nor is it free to access. But the Harvard Medical Dictionary defines a host as "host: A person or other living organism that can be infected by a virus or other pathogen under natural conditions." Bacteriophages don't infect people because an infection is "The growth of harmful organisms that can cause disease, such as bacteria, in the body." But they do cause disease in the bacteria because those are the viruses' hosts.

    • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Friday August 07 2020, @12:15PM (1 child)

      by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Friday August 07 2020, @12:15PM (#1032826) Journal
      Don't be wilfully stupid. When antibiotics kill off your gut bacteria, you wilfully infect yourself with new bacteria. In extreme cases hospitals have a treatment room reserved for fecal transplants. Harvard's definition is not a one size fits all. BTW, even beneficial bacteria can turn rogue - like the flesh-eating disease - and attack the host. Log in to continue or fuck off.
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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @10:11PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @10:11PM (#1033200)

        Don't be willfully stupid. We were talking about bacteriophages and the bacteria hosts.