2 Strains Of COVID-19 Coronavirus Hints At Its Danger

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Paul Preston, AENN

The understanding of the Coronavirus or Covid-19 virus is becoming clearer everyday as the number of cases are increasing and at the same time decreasing yet some cases are mild then others are fatal. Its a difficult way to treat a virus with so many personalities.

As the impact of Covid-19’s personalities are being seen so is the nature of its contagious behavior. We are discovering there are several strains of the Covid-19 virus where there are differing degrees virulence which can range from mild to lethal.

Below there are two articles that will help you understand to a greater degree what we are up against in the fight agains this disease.

Florida Maquis, You Tube

Lisette Voytko, Forbes Staff, Business, Breaking News Reporter

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https://www.agenda21radio.news/2020/04/04/2-strains-of-covid-19-coronavirus-hints-at-its-danger/#Y29yb25hdmlydXM

(Updated: 4:30 p.m. EST, March 4 2020)

Topline: Researchers at a Chinese university identified two separate strains of the Covid-19 coronavirus that could be sickening people in a new study Wednesday, and have called for further research, as 3,200 have died and 93,000 more have been infected by the disease worldwide.

• The study, produced by researchers at Peking University’s School of Life Sciences and the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, found that two types of the coronavirus appeared to exist: a more aggressive one, and less aggressive one.
• The researchers analyzed 103 publicly available genomes from infected persons, and found 70% were the more aggressive type, while the less aggressive type comprised the other 30%. 
• That more aggressive strain was found in early cases from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus was thought to have originated from, and the researchers think it may have evolved from the less aggressive type.
• The virus likely went through “mutations and natural selection besides recombination” that caused it to develop different strains, according to the researchers.
• The researchers emphasized that the data used in the study is “very limited” and called for additional scientific investigation to understand the virus’ evolution and epidemiology.
• Also on Wednesday: Reuters reported that a top Chinese medical association said the coronavirus incubation period is between five to seven days, with a maximum of 14 days

Crucial quote: “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,” the researchers wrote. 

Big number: 3.4%. That’s the global coronavirus mortality rate, according to the World Health Organization, which also said seasonal flu kills far fewer than 1% of infected people. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases say, however, that the Covid-19 death rate could be below 1%. Complicating this calculation is that there’s no clear way to estimate how many people may be infected beyond the confirmed cases. The New York Times reported that the WHO’s mortality rate does not factor in mild COVID-19 cases that don’t require medical attention?—and is further skewed by Wuhan’s death rate, which is several times higher than the rest of China.

According to The Atlantic, the reported number of U.S. cases is far too low, due to flawed data-gathering processes by the Trump administration. The Times also reported that the CDC’s first round of test kits were botched, causing delays in results. And, up until Monday, the CDC allowed few labs to conduct the tests, further compounding delays. Initially, the CDC also had a narrow range of criteria people had to meet before getting tested for the virus, which limited the number of tests that would be conducted. But by Tuesday, vice president Mike Pence said the White House was issuing guidance to make sure “any American can be tested,” according to the Seattle Times. 

Key background: Although the death toll and number of infected people has increased across the world each day, China has seen a slowdown in its number of cases. According to Reuters, China’s number of cases has been dropping since mid-February. The number of daily infections reported outside of China are now greater than those inside the country, which the Washington Post says could be due to China’s “draconian” efforts to stop the disease’s spread. As of Wednesday, the countries hardest-hit by coronavirus are South Korea (5,238 cases), Iran (2,992 cases) and Italy (2,262 cases). At least 100 cases and 9 deaths have been reported in the U.S., with four new reported cases in New York.