This SARS-CoV-2 Variant Correlates Strongly With Fatality Rates Across Countries
G614 variant evades the host immune response, molecular modeling finds, which could complicate vaccine design.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, mutates like any other viruses. An early bioinformatics study has documented mutations in SARS-CoV-2 isolated from Italy. Another phylogeny study, which I narrated here, revealed three clusters of SARS-CoV-2 — with isolates from Italy and Iran being in a group rather distinct from that of other countries.
Soon, scientists started naming the different SARS-CoV-2 variants. Though variants of a virus do not necessarily mean it’s medically relevant. Some mutations simply do not lead to a change in function. However, one variant called the G614 has probed much curiosity within the scientific community.
Note that this article is not about the pre-print paper — suggesting that G614 mutation confers increased transmissibility — that has sparked controversy.
G614 Variant and Case Fatality Rates (CFRs)
“Among such variants, 23403A>G variant (p.D614G) in spike protein B-cell epitope is observed frequently in European countries, such as the Netherlands, Switzerland…
