Indian scientists decode genome sequence of coronavirus and find three new mutations

Indian scientists have decoded the genome sequence of coronavirus and have found three unique mutations in the Indian strain. This is in addition to six new mutations reported elsewhere in the world.

Gujarat: Genome sequence of coronavirus decoded | Ahmedabad News - Times of India

This indicates that the virus is mutating fast.

There has been speculation earlier that the heat and humidity of India or some other indigenous factors perhaps may have effected mutations or genetic changes in the virus to a less virulent form.

Studies have shown that respiratory droplets spread farther when the air is cold and dry.

 

Articles like this have to be read carefully and with an understanding of the subject. Also remembering that you are reading a journalists report, not a medical paper.

The first thing that struck me was the introduction. It said,..... "In the fight against corona19",...... but the article was on the whole corona spectrum, most of which is harmless to humans.

I am not saying that research is unnecessary, but outside the medical field, it can paint a very inaccurate picture.

All viruses mutate constantly, many of the mutations are due to climatic conditions, so India may have a few of their own, but these would poorly survive cooler and less humid conditions. The mutations may also be specific to the host, since India has a unique wildlife population.

We are tending to forget that the corona family has existed in animals for decades and they have developed immunity. Hopefully 19 will soon find the human race a host not to be messed with..

 

What I have added here ,besides the report, is by my own admission my own speculations which can be subjected to review.

Would you say with certainty that the mutations in the virus under certain conditions would not alter it into a lesser virulent form!

If I may ask, where is it written in the article that the whole corona spectrum has been analysed !

Even if the whole spectrum has been analysed, I would say it is important to have whole knowledge of the spectrum as opposed to incomplete knowledge, so as to create fairly predictive models for the virus.

I agree with you that laymen tend to misinterpret data grossly, but it is also possible that a mind unburdened by theories can discover patterns from empirical data.

The Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis discovered through empirical data that the patients in his clinic had greater mortality rates after being examined by physicians straight from autopsy work , while those in a nearby clinic had lesser mortality rates ( and also no autopy examinations)

He instituted a policy of the physicians washing hands between autopsy work and the examination of patients with chlorinated lime, and this resulted subsequently in lowered mortality rates in the clinic.

Despite various publications of results where hand washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it.

The issue was that Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the prevalent theory then known as dyscrasia.

Even an authoritative and celebrated medical figure like Rudolf Virchow himself rejected Semmelweis's doctrine and empirical findings.

Semmelweis's results lacked scientific explanations, and it was the discoveries of Pasteur and Lister, and the germ theory of medicine later advanced that backed his results.

India has issues with pneumonia and tb, but I am trying to speculate out the reasons for lesser casualty rates in India, when experts initially had predicted that the covid-19 would inflict heavy casualties over here.
The findings, if any are discerned or ferreted out, will obviously be useful and helpful.

 

The point that I was making is that the corona family of viruses have been with us for decades, existing in animals who have high levels of immunity.
While the doctors in India were studying the virus, it was obvious that they would look at the entire history of mutation. The medical papers did NOT say that it was 19 that was mutating.
Then along comes a journalist and heads his article with "corona19". That was what I considered as scaremongering.

Everything that you said was true, particularly how so many breakthroughs are as a result of doctors thinking outside the box. Perhaps the observation that milkmaids, who should have been at the highest risk appeared seemed to have developed an immunity to tuberculosis. Such a simple observation in hindsight.

Take a look at my last post on my own thread and ask yourself why hospitals who seem to be a breeding ground for all manner of infections, put bottles of sanitizer everywhere, rather than use ozone in the air conditioning, something that was used in theaters in the 1950's, after people started complaining that a evening at the local cinema was guaranteed to leave you with a cold.

Over the last week, I have been asking myself why a sizable percentage of people have recovered from corona with no more damage than an average cold and this has posed 2 questions .

Firstly is their more than one mutation of the virus affecting humans and if so has it been with us for years. Without people dying or needing intensive care, has it just been seen as another "bug" and gone unobserved.

Secondly, is it possible that people in contact with animals have developed a level of immunity to the corona family in the same way as the milkmaids. If so, is it reducing the affect of 19.on these people.

In my opinion we need a lot more "outside the box" research and it needs to be worldwide.
I would start by investigating whether animal farmers have survived corona19 in a higher percentage than people in other walks of life.

Meanwhile, I will spend more time with our dog and stop Jane complaining about the cat spending half his life sleeping on our bed.
Remember the old saying, "Many a true word spoken in jest".

 

Okay, perhaps you had not read the latter half of the article which was at the bottom and which were preceded by images depicting comparison of Wuhan-1 and Indian Gujarat strand of Covid-19 with the mutations in blue. The error could be due to misunderstanding .

Here is an excerpt from the article at the latter half.

Dr C G Joshi, director of Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre, said that a total of nine mutations were found during the sequencing out of which six were reported elsewhere in the world. “But three are unique to our sequencing. It indicates that the virus is mutating fast. Mutation depends on multiple factors and further study is on, “ he said.The primary benefit is , we can apply multiple permutations and combinations in computer simulation to ascertain which drugs or treatment could be most effective against the virus, saving time at the lab stage,” he said.

So you can see that the researchers themselves were focused on Covid-19 and not the whole family of coronaviruses.

 

I have great faith in Indian doctors, some of the best doctors and consultants in the UK were trained in India.

Perhaps one important issue is whether animals can become the carrier of 19 and end up like mosquito's carrying malaria. Or did 19 mutate entirely in humans? A small point, but an important one.

Now corona has found a human host, the only satisfactory way forward is for us to develop immunity, hopefully with some assistance from vaccines during the next decade. Fortunately we already have our first vaccine and a control on human testing in the UK and around 5 others very near to the testing stage. Fortunately the breakthroughs seem to be coming from universities, so information will be shared far more than if pharmaceutical companies were involved. Needless to say that in order to produce the resultant products in quantity pharmaceutical will have the facilities, but they will be working under licence from the government who ultimately control our universities.

Fortunately the UK has a long history of working with other countries long before the EU, so brexit will change nothing.

PS, Have you worked in microbiology.? As you no doubt already know, my field was cardio thoracic surgery, which I was involved in for more than 50 years alongside my engineering design. My work was mainly in TAVI (Trans-catheter Aortic Valve Implant). I am not a licenced surgeon.
You may find this video interesting.
The titanium alloy cage was extended recently, helping to prevent the capillaries feeding blood from the aorta (above the aortic valve) to the heart muscles from closing.. This has extended the procedure prognosis from 5, to 25 years. It is also allowed the previous cocktail of anticoagulants to be replaced with 80mg of Aspirin per day

 

Yeah, there are some 6 Indian companies and some Indian universities too involved in creating a vaccine, possibly taking into consideration the mutations in the Indian strain.

Generally, vaccines take several months to pass different stages of testing, and composes some phases to assess their safety, their efficacy and finally their durability over a defined period of time.

The short timeline of the UK vaccine seems dubious to me, but if they can pull it off without much issues, it would be a massive relief to the world, and would help medical research and technology transcend new heights .

Thanks for the information.

Yeah, it is great that improved technique and technology is allowing human domination of nature at the moment and I hope this will be confined to peaceful purposes alongside preservation of nature.

Nature has an intelligence of its own, and if provoked beyond a point, it can be quite creative in extracting its pound of flesh. Hopefully human beings after this episode will evolve in terms of wisdom as well and not just in knowledge, and learn to look at the whole and not just the detail.