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The mutation that helps Delta spread

nature.com

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Re: The mutation that helps Delta spread

#2
Is there any information on what the upper bound might be on the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2? I think a lot of people just assume one big jump consumes most of the range, but we've seen at least three big jumps so far ("Doug", "Alpha", and "Delta").

Re: The mutation that helps Delta spread

#3
post #2

Is there any information on what the upper bound might be on the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2? I think a lot of people just assume one big jump consumes most of the range, but we've seen at least three big jumps so far ("Doug", "Alpha", and "Delta").

There is a “Doug” variant?!? Asking for a friend…

EDIT

So there is! Ha

> And you can imagine, it was quite a mouthful. So, we started to call this D to G mutation ‘Doug’, and then any of the other virus sequences that didn’t have this mutation … we called ‘Douglas’, so it was sort of a bit of a private joke within the lab,” she said. “As more mutations came about, we’d come up with a person’s name for them.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/17/nicknames-emer...

Re: The mutation that helps Delta spread

#4
post #2

Is there any information on what the upper bound might be on the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2? I think a lot of people just assume one big jump consumes most of the range, but we've seen at least three big jumps so far ("Doug", "Alpha", and "Delta").

There is a “Doug” variant?!? Asking for a friend… EDIT So there is! Ha > And you can imagine, it was quite a mouthful. So, we started to call this D to G mutation ‘Doug’, and then any of the other virus sequences that didn’t have this mutation … we called ‘Douglas’, so it was sort of a bit of a private joke within the lab,” she said. “As more mutations came about, we’d come up with a person’s name for them.” https://…

[deleted]

Re: The mutation that helps Delta spread

#5
post #2

Is there any information on what the upper bound might be on the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2? I think a lot of people just assume one big jump consumes most of the range, but we've seen at least three big jumps so far ("Doug", "Alpha", and "Delta").

There is a “Doug” variant?!? Asking for a friend… EDIT So there is! Ha > And you can imagine, it was quite a mouthful. So, we started to call this D to G mutation ‘Doug’, and then any of the other virus sequences that didn’t have this mutation … we called ‘Douglas’, so it was sort of a bit of a private joke within the lab,” she said. “As more mutations came about, we’d come up with a person’s name for them.” https://…

>One of the first mutations to go global is known as D614G, or Doug for short

Re: The mutation that helps Delta spread

#6
Is it implausible to think that continued transmission and mutation at this rate will cause a catastrophic worsening of the pandemic to an extent several orders of magnitude above what it is now? Vaccination is effective in the current state of the pandemic, but what's to prevent the built-up immune response of humankind being wiped out if the virus adapts enough?

Re: The mutation that helps Delta spread

#7
post #2

Is there any information on what the upper bound might be on the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2? I think a lot of people just assume one big jump consumes most of the range, but we've seen at least three big jumps so far ("Doug", "Alpha", and "Delta").

i was wondering this the other day.

the next big mutations may not be more infectious because they can survive outside the body longer, but because they get around existing immunity or theres a longer asympomatic-but-still-transmissible phase. theres a lot of different paths this could take to mass infection.

Re: The mutation that helps Delta spread

#8

Is it implausible to think that continued transmission and mutation at this rate will cause a catastrophic worsening of the pandemic to an extent several orders of magnitude above what it is now? Vaccination is effective in the current state of the pandemic, but what's to prevent the built-up immune response of humankind being wiped out if the virus adapts enough?

SARS-CoV-2 has four antigens. The existing vaccines stimulate the production of antibodies against only one of them, the spike protein.

The existing vaccines are proving ineffective against Delta because it has mutated significantly enough that its spike protein does not cause a neutralizing immune response. They may even be causing ADE, as evidenced by the most recent data comparing Israel and Palestine.

Re: The mutation that helps Delta spread

#9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a “Doug” variant?!? Asking for a friend… EDIT So there is! Ha > And you can imagine, it was quite a mouthful. So, we started to call this D to G mutation ‘Doug’, and then any of the other virus sequences that didn’t have this mutation … we called ‘Douglas’, so it was sort of a bit of a private joke within the lab,” she said. “As more mutations came about, we’d come up with a person’s name for them.” https://…

>One of the first mutations to go global is known as D614G, or Doug for short

Also the Nelly and Eeek variants. They would have called it Erik, but they worked closely with someone named Erik already.

Re: The mutation that helps Delta spread

#10
post #2

Is there any information on what the upper bound might be on the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2? I think a lot of people just assume one big jump consumes most of the range, but we've seen at least three big jumps so far ("Doug", "Alpha", and "Delta").

i was wondering this the other day. the next big mutations may not be more infectious because they can survive outside the body longer, but because they get around existing immunity or theres a longer asympomatic-but-still-transmissible phase. theres a lot of different paths this could take to mass infection.

Receptor binding affinity can also increase too, or like Alpha did, further suppress interferon production. Lots of ways...
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