It has been observed that the coronavirus or the COVID-19 is actually not mutating significantly as it tries to wreak havoc all over the globe.
Scientists hope to create a long-lasting vaccine
According to scientists, reported by the Washington Post, they have been doing their best to closely study and get more information about the novel coronavirus' genetic code. That realtive stability has suggested that the COVID-19 is less likely to be more or less fatal as it spreads all throughout the popularity of the human race. This also gives out positive news for researchers that have been hoping to develop a long-lasting vaccine.
It is widely known that every kind of virus will evolve over time and it complies mutations as they try to mimic imperfectly in the cells of their hosts in massive numbers. These viruses will then spread through a population.
The COVID-19 has the ability to proofread and that reduces the "error rate" and the progression of mutation Scientists say that there is no evidence that some strains are actually deadlier and more dangerous than others.
SARS-CoV-2 is pretty much the same as the viruses that come from bats
In 2019, the virus started to attack humankind in Wuhan, China probably though a similar species. It has been said that this was possibly transmitted from an endangered anteater who have scales that were used for traditional medicine.
A molecular geneticist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Peter Thielen, that has also been researching the virus, told Washington Post, that scientists have been studying a whopping 1,000 various samples of the said virus and more.
He also said that there is at least only four to ten genetic difference that comes between the strains that have tainted people in the United States and the initial virus that have spread throughout Wuhan.
Thielen has stated that "That's a relatively small number of mutations for having passed through a large number of people. At this point, the mutation rate of the virus would suggest that the vaccine developed for SARS-CoV-2 would be a single vaccine, rather than a new vaccine every year like the flu vaccine."
He also added that he would expect a vaccine fro COVID-19 that would have a similar profile to those of chickenpox and measles vaccines. Something that would bestow immunity for a very long time.
There are already a lot of vaccines and treatments against the coronavirus that are currently in development, but medical experts till estimate that it will be at least a year to 18 months before a particular vaccine or cure to be available.
Virologists, Benjamin Neuman and Stanley Perlman of Texas A&M University and the University of Iowa were both on the international committee that gave name to the virus. They told Washington Post that the virus appears to be relatively stable at the moment.
Experts say that it is pretty much possible hat a small kind od mutation in the novel coronavirus can have some effects on the clinical results of COVID-19. Though, a team of scientists has suggested that there might actually be two distinct strains of the various with different levels of severity.
