Posted on 03/26/2020 9:21:00 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Currently, there is no known specific medicine to treat the novel coronavirus, but researchers in Italy suggest that the COVID-19 disease is slow to mutate, based on its genetic material.
This finding could aid in helping large swaths of people over an extended period of time once a specific cure is found.
The study, which was produced by two independent teams in the country, used "a new next-generation sequencing (NGS) research assay" from Thermo Fisher Scientific on Italian COVID-19 patients. The experts then compared them to a sample from the original outbreak to come up with their findings.
"Had we investigated other viruses we might have expected up to dozens of new mutations after so many infectious cycles in patients," professor Stefano Menzo, head of Virology at Ancona University Hospital, said in a statement. "Our initial data show that this is a very stable RNA virus, with only five novel variants. A virus with a stable genome is good news for vaccine development because it indicates that the effectiveness of vaccines could be more consistent, possibly over many years."
Dr. Maria Rosaria Capobianchi, head of the Virology Department, Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases, said the ability to run quick, multiple samples is important in the scientific community's fight to stay ahead of the virus.
However, Capobianchi cautioned, "viral genomes are dynamic and these preliminary data need further analysis to determine the biological significance of the gene variants and to investigate the evolutionary path of the coronavirus."
The researchers will further analyze the data with Thermo Fisher's new Ion SARS-CoV-2 analysis solution to better understand the virus and analyze the entire genome.
Scientists are looking at a number of different ways to cure the novel coronavirus, which has affected more than 428,000 people around the globe,
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I wonder why is a tech guru having such an interest in health care and viruses.
“Stable” is a relative term for RNA viruses. It really depends on where they mutate - some, such as the polio virus, are consistent enough through the mutations that they can successfully be addressed by vaccines; others, such as HIV, prove extremely difficult. This one, if the Italians are correct, falls in between, as does the influenza virus, whose vaccines capture only one or a few strains at a time of the many that are out there. That’s why there is a different flu vaccine every year. That may be the case with this particular coronavirus.
And iceland says it mutates fast.
Hundreds of thousands
Not enough.
We need to get to at least a test/peep a week.
Infections in an exponential situation are quite dynamic.
Yes, but most mutations are harmful and weakens, not strengthens the original.
We are not repeat NOT in an exponential situation
Put your fear away
Depends on where you are.
There are hot spots where the growth of new cases was/are exponential. It may not be so for more than a week or so but it was exponential with an exponent >1.
You may want to review some data:
https://www.politico.com/interactives/2020/coronavirus-testing-by-state-chart-of-new-cases/
Well, that is good news.
We have our first case here in this county. It has been with us quite some time already apparently. We are not world travelers around here.
Not too far away a group of 34 at a church assembly on March 5 got it.
The junk is apparently unbelievably contagious and is spreading across the nation like wildfire. But we know that already.
I am not at all impressed with the way we have handled this junk. The CDC really has messed up and given up in trying to contain or manage with purpose.
You haven’t been paying attention
You are data challenged.
Not there is enough data/testing.
You ignoring all the info out there
There is NO exponential growth
You and Rahm need to get up to date
You are apparently math and data challenged.
Says a man who believes with no data and no s ie EC that we are in an exponential crisis
You said crisis, not me.
Look at the Michigan case load over the last few days and take a math review class to see if it is exponential growth or not.
You keep saying exponential. Even the guy who first claimed that in England has backed down
You are clearly NOT a math major.
Nor are you. I’m done you refuse to deal with data on the ground. You are looking at made up projections which have not come true
No.
You have no idea of what Exponential means.
You are just wildly out of control and not based in any kind of normal reality to view events as they pass by.
I’d lay off the sauce.
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