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The more aggressive type of virus was found to be prevalent in the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan — the Chinese city where COVID-19 was first detected late last year.
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But the frequency of this type of virus has since decreased from early January, the scientists said.
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Researchers cautioned that data examined in the study was still “very limited.”
Researchers in China have found that two different types of the new coronavirus could be causing infections worldwide.
In a preliminary study published Tuesday, scientists at Peking University’s School of Life Sciences and the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai found that a more aggressive type of the new coronavirus had accounted for roughly 70% of analyzed strains, while 30% had been linked to a less aggressive type.
The more aggressive type of virus was found to be prevalent in the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan — the Chinese city where COVID-19 was first detected late last year.
But the frequency of this type of virus has since decreased from early January.
The researchers said their results indicate the development of new variations of the spike in COVID-19 cases was “likely caused by mutations and natural selection besides recombination.”
“These findings strongly support an urgent need for further immediate, comprehensive studies that combine genomic data, epidemiological data, and chart records of the clinical symptoms of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),” they said.
We first heard about the genetic differences between different varieties of the coronavirus when one vieretity was found to be spreading undetected here in my area of Washington State.
I beleive I was infected by COVID-19 at a crowded event in Everett, and was sick for 12 days in February. At the time I thought it was the flu, and did self quarantine myself as much as possible when I was sick. Since I have COPD i had a nebulizer at home I could use. Without that nebulizer I would probably have sought out a physician’s care.
Two cases detected weeks apart in Washington State had genetic links, suggesting that many more people in the area may be infected.
By Sheri Fink and Mike Baker
The first case had one genetic difference from the original virus that was detected in Wuhan. The new case had that mutation, plus three additional ones. More than 125 genomes derived from samples taken from coronavirus patients around the world have been shared among scientists thus far, providing data for the analysis.
We already have an emergency declaration here in Washington State.
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