Comments
A new study stated that coronavirus vaccines need to be regularly updated in order to fight the continuously mutating variants of the virus that are capable of evading immune responses.
The study, published in the journal Virus Evolution, was carried out by the virologists from Charite-Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany.
The authors of the research analysed the genetic evolution of the four currently known 'common cold' coronaviruses. They zeroed in on the two longest-known viruses, HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43.
The findings of the study indicated one feature which was common to both the coronaviruses and the influenza virus — all three had a pronounced ladder-like shape in their evolutionary paths.
The study’s first author, Wendy K. Jo, said: "An asymmetrical tree of this kind likely results from the repeated replacement of one circulating virus variant by another which carried a fitness advantage."
The researchers stated that this is evidence of 'antigenic drift', a continuous process involving changes to surface structures that enable viruses to dodge the human immune responses.
"It means that these endemic coronaviruses also evade the immune system, just like the influenza virus. However, one also has to look at the speed with which this evolutionary adaptation happens," she added.
The researchers further wrote in their study that the COVID-19 genome is currently estimated to change at a rate of approximately 10 mutations per 10,000 base molecules per year.
This means that the speed at which it evolves is substantially higher than that of the endemic coronaviruses.
Co-author Jan Felix Drexler said in the study: "This rapid genetic change in SARS-CoV-2 is reflected in the emergence of numerous virus variants across the globe."
"This, however, is likely due to the high rates of infection seen during the pandemic. When infection numbers are so high, a virus is able to evolve more rapidly," Drexler added.
The scientists also speculated that SARS-CoV-2 will start to change more slowly once infections start to die down.
According to the virologists, the efficacy of the vaccines will stay for longer once the waves of the pandemic become stable.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.