A team of infectious disease experts has warned that people who are not vaccinated would not just harm their own health rather they might turn into variant factories if they are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Experts have said that the body of an infected individual is the source of new variants of coronavirus. A professor from the division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. William Schaffner has said that people who have not taken shots are variants factories. He has said that the more unvaccinated individuals there are, the more the odds for the virus to replicate rapidly. When a virus multiplies, it mutates further and it can come up with a worrisome strain, which can turn into a more serious strain later. As all the viruses mutate, the SARS-CoV-2 virus as well evolves and keeps changing. Health experts have said that some mutations do not affect the virus at all and some mutations weaken its intensity, however, at times, a virus randomly gets a mutation that benefits it. Such a random mutation boosts the transmissibility of the virus, its ability to infect a wide range of hosts, and enhances its replication efficiency.
The team of experts has shown that viruses with an advantageous mutation can outpace other viruses and ultimately can make up the most of virus particles that infect the person. If such a person spreads the virus to someone else, the person will be passing along the mutant version of the virus. If a mutant version of the virus thrives enough, it turns into a variant. It is possible only when the mutant version keeps multiplying and an unvaccinated individual provides that prospect to the virus. Many mutations come up in the virus with time but the ones that persist in the virus for a long time help the virus to spread in the population more easily. A microbiologist at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Andrew Pekosz has said that whenever a virus changes, it offers the virus a platform to include more mutations, and at present, there are many viruses that spread more easily. On the other hand, viruses that are unable to spread do not have the ability to mutate. In the case of the COVID19 pandemic, many variants have emerged across the world. The B.1.1.7 strain or Alpha variant has been found in the UK for the first time. The B.1.351 strain or Beta variant has been identified in South Africa for the first time. The Delta variant is said to be the most contagious and deadly strain of COVID19. It has originated from India.
A new variant of coronavirus has affected the whole world in the summer of last year. A version of the virus along with a mutation that is known as D614G has traveled from Europe to the United States and then it has been spreading in the rest of the globe. The change has led to transmissibility that is more widespread and made this variant thriving. This mutated version of the virus has replaced the original strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that has emerged from Wuhan City of China in 2019 for the first time. This variant of the virus has emerged before experts have started naming the variants that is why it has become a default strain. Many other new variants have included many changes to D614G. The Alpha strain has become the main strain in the US during late spring due to its greater spreadability. At present, the Delta variant is more widespread in the United States. In nearly 1000 counties in the United States, the rate of vaccination is still fewer than 30 percent. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who is the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has said that Southeast and Midwest areas in the US are the most susceptible areas. Health experts have been witnessing a surge in the rate of infection in these areas.
