Coronavirus has mutated into at least 30 different strains and New York may have one of the deadliest imported from Europe, a new study has found.
One of China’s top scientists, Professor Li Lanjuan from Zhejiang University, tested a small group of 11 patients and found many mutations of SARS-COV-2 – the virus strain known as coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness, Covid-19.
Li’s team looked at how each strain infects and kills human cells, and found the most aggressive strains could generate 270 times as much viral load than the least potent type, the South China Morning Post reports.
The deadliest strains found within the Covid-19 patients, collected from Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, had also been found in patients across hard-hit European countries, including Italy and Spain, before spreading to New York – the epicentre of the US outbreak.
The milder mutations of coronavirus have also spread across the US, in states like Washington.
The researchers say their study – which has not been peer-reviewed by other experts and was published on medRxiv.org – is the first to show with laboratory evidence that certain mutations can affect a more severe illness.
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The authors wrote: ‘Sars-CoV-2 has acquired mutations capable of substantially changing its pathogenicity.’
But they warned the milder mutations can still lead to a severe illness.
Two patients, in their 30s and 50s, became severely ill after contracting a weaker strain.
They both recovered but the patient in their 50s had to be treated in an intensive care unit in hospital.
The researchers say they detected 19 new mutations of coronavirus out of about 30 in total.
All of the patients are receiving the same treatment regardless of their strain, they added.
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