Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
Molecular biologist, Ahmad Rusdan Utomo, explained about speed mutation of the corona virus that’s called make up Covid-19 so it is more contagious.
This was revealed by Ahmad in response to concerns that more transmission of the corona virus was said to accelerate the mutation of the virus. He explained that the mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 corona virus that causes Covid-19 is actually not as fast as HIV or MERS.
“Covid is actually a slow mutation. But under certain conditions if the host supports it, it could be accelerated,” Ahmad explained when contacted by CNNIndonesia.com, Friday (8/1).
Previously, University of Indonesia Epidemiologist Pandu Riono said the more people infected with the corona virus, the faster the virus mutation will be. Because, according to him, the virus will not mutate if it does not infect humans.
This was revealed by Pandu regarding the emergence of a more contagious variant of the corona virus mutation in Britain and South Africa.
However, Ahmad explained that the mutation of the corona virus did not occur excessively which caused the virus to change significantly.
“The mutation cannot be too excited, as small as 5 (RNA mutations) per genome per month from (a total) of 30 thousand genomes (SARS-CoV-2 corona virus),” Ahmad explained.
In fact, usually, corona only changes 2 RNA from a total of 30 thousand RNA that makes up the SARS-CoV-2 genome.
Because, the gene mutation error due to the corona virus incorrectly replicates RNA, according to Ahmad, usually 2 RNA mutations, according to Ahmad, are slower than HIV.
“So, the mutation is not up to a thousand (or) 10 thousand, at best only 2. But, the more excited from the UK is 17 (mutations) per 30 thousand, said Ahmad.
Factors that accelerate the mutation of corona
According to Ahmad, several things can accelerate virus mutation if supported by the right host. For example, those who are autoimmune.
“For example, people have autoimmune, so viruses can feast,” he said.
Autoimmune is a condition when a person’s immune system attacks the body itself, instead of attacking foreign viruses and bacteria that enter the body.
As a result of the lack of immune resistance, the virus can multiply freely in the autoimmune host body. Thus, it replicates a lot and causes more mutation variants.
According to him, the mutation of the virus is in the nature of the virus. Because, all creatures that have a genome must mutate. Genome is the genetic material of an organism, consisting of strands of DNA and RNA chains.
In terms of viruses, mutations are good because they mean they can reproduce to survive, so they can infect the next person. However, from the human side this is detrimental because it causes disease.
However, if the virus mutates too quickly, according to Ahmad, it will harm itself. Because it becomes easily recognized by humans and easier to eradicate, as happened in the case of MERS.
Faster transmission factor
The mutated coronavirus variants in the UK and South Africa are more contagious. However, rather than the speed of the virus mutation that affects Covid-19 more easily transmitted, Ahmad is more concerned about faster transmission due to the speed of human movement.
“Mutations are slow, but human movement is difficult to suppress. The same virus. But people go back and forth on vacation, the result is a spike in cases. The pattern is repeated. So I am more worried (many cases of transmission are due to) the speed of human movement than the rate of virus mutation,” he said again.
Because, according to Ahmad, the mutation variant of the corona virus in Indonesia has not changed much. It’s just that because people crowd around, it makes the virus easier to stick to.
(can / eks)
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