Tracing COVID19 Genome Evolution: 3 Major Genotypes A, B and C

[FordGT90Concept]

Let me rephrase, your commentary in the OP about 2019 flu season was your own. It's not in the article. So I mistakenly questioned the article...


Finally read the paper a bit and...the virus is thought to have originated from a bat. From a bat, it diverged: one prominent strain was found exclusively in China; the other prominent strain was found 3/4 in USA and 1/4 in China. Each mutation apparently coalesced into genotype A which is in China, Australia, Europe, and East Asia. One of A's mutations was B which is the type that swept through China and, to a lesser extent, East Asia. Type B seems to only be effective against Asians because everyone not Asian caught a mutated version of it...including type C which is found in Australia.

Isolation is the only way to fight this thing. The more people it infects, the more it mutates. The authors of the paper literally tracked some of these genotypes to a specific carrier that traveled around the world. I'll just quote it because it's a lot of information and tells some stories of the virus (extra line breaks are mine to split cases):

On 25 February 2020, the first Brazilian was reported to have been infected following a visit to Italy, and the network algorithm reflects this with a mutational link between an Italian and his Brazilian viral genome in cluster C (SI Appendix, Fig. S1).

In another case, a man from Ontario had traveled from Wuhan in central China to Guangdong in southern China and then returned to Canada, where he fell ill and was conclusively diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on 27 January 2020. In the phylogenetic network (SI Appendix, Fig. S2), his virus genome branches from a reconstructed ancestral node, with derived virus variants in Foshan and Shenzhen (both in Guangdong province), in agreement with his travel history. His virus genome now coexists with those of other infected North Americans (one Canadian and two Californians) who evidently share a common viral genealogy.

The case of the single Mexican viral genome in the network is a documented infection diagnosed on 28 February 2020 in a Mexican traveler to Italy. Not only does the network confirm the Italian origin of the Mexican virus (SI Appendix, Fig. S3), but it also implies that this Italian virus derives from the first documented German infection on 27 January 2020 in an employee working for the Webasto company in Munich, who, in turn, had contracted the infection from a Chinese colleague in Shanghai who had received a visit by her parents from Wuhan. This viral journey from Wuhan to Mexico, lasting a month, is documented by 10 mutations in the phylogenetic network.

 

[xkm1948]

Isolation will slow it not beat it. To beat it we need specialized anti-viral drug, soon.

29000bp is not a small genome size for a virus. The more complex a virus gets the harder for it to get more successful mutations.

ACE2 receptor entry utilization by COVID19 is already pretty much maxed out its transmission rate. The only way for it to be more successful is going the retroviral way: inserting itself into our genome, like HIV. That would be extremely nasty.

 

[HTC]

Isolation will slow it not beat it. To beat it we need specialized anti-viral drug, soon.

29000bp is not a small genome size for a virus. The more complex a virus gets the harder for it to get more successful mutations.

ACE2 receptor entry utilization by COVID19 is already pretty much maxed out its transmission rate. The only way for it to be more successful is going the retroviral way: inserting itself into our genome, like HIV. That would be extremely nasty.

But it will help hospitals cope with "the rush" of patients @ the same time that require hospitalization and especially those with severe symptoms, which is the whole point of lockdowns.

Like seen in Italy and Spain, the number of new cases does indeed come down and it seems the ICU cases are alleviating in these countries. Unfortunately, both Italian and Spanish medical communities were hit hard so they have a lot fewer "combat units" with which to face this "battle", so the death toll is still in "dark numbers" but it's coming down, albeit slowly.

 

[Space Lynx]

But it will help hospitals cope with "the rush" of patients @ the same time that require hospitalization and especially those with severe symptoms, which is the whole point of lockdowns.

Like seen in Italy and Spain, the number of new cases does indeed come down and it seems the ICU cases are alleviating in these countries. Unfortunately, both Italian and Spanish medical communities were hit hard so they have a lot fewer "combat units" with which to face this "battle", so the death toll is still in "dark numbers" but it's coming down, albeit slowly.

Until we stop social distancing and isolating, which has to happen some time cause economy and all that. Then there will be a bigger second wave because we won't be able to afford another shut down. Hospitals will still be overwhelmed, but hopefully by then we will have a more clear cut answer on a new medicine. I had luck with ZPAC myself, hopefully the studies show I was not the only one.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

To beat it we need specialized anti-viral drug, soon.

Seems doubtful to catch all the genotypes. Isolation prevents the formation and spread of more genotypes.

Antiviral drugs in general are few and far between with limited effectiveness.

ACE2 receptor entry utilization by COVID19 is already pretty much maxed out its transmission rate. The only way for it to be more successful is going the retroviral way: inserting itself into our genome, like HIV.

It is extremely transmissible hence all of the social measures necessary to slow it down. It's already way too "successful."

 

[HTC]

Until we stop social distancing and isolating, which has to happen some time cause economy and all that. Then there will be a bigger second wave because we won't be able to afford another shut down. Hospitals will still be overwhelmed, but hopefully by then we will have a more clear cut answer on a new medicine. I had luck with ZPAC myself, hopefully the studies show I was not the only one.

But we've already learned steps that work and steps that don't, so we can avoid unnecessary measures, not need a harder stance and, most especially, we can take steps RIGHT AWAY, instead of the "wait and see approach" most countries took: the faster steps are taken, the faster "normalcy" returns, if we still remember what "normal" feels like after this ends for good.