Delta has shown how destructive new strains of COVID can get. Scientists fear future mutations of the virus could be even worse: 'Delta on steroids.'
It's too soon to say whether Lambda will turn out to be the next big, bad thing that COVID-19 unleashes on us.
It may seem surprising that scientists were caught off-guard by the rapid emergence of a more dangerous variant. But unlike most other pathogens, Eisen notes was largely unknown when it emerged. In the absence of data, scientists assumed it would follow other viruses in being relatively slow to spin off much more contagious mutations.
But once in a while—perhaps every million trillion times—a random mutation confers some potentially dangerous new characteristic. What's more, much of what makes the virus dangerous has to do with a relatively small portion—the so-called spike proteins that protrude from its surface and enable the virus to latch onto and penetrate human cells.
"A virus' job is just to keep propagating," says Green."Any mutation that helps the virus survive and spread will make it more successful as a variant." The growing number of people with natural immunity, from having recovered from COVID-19, won't save the day either, says Eric Vail, director of molecular pathology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center."At best it's now a third of the U.S. population with natural immunity, and that may be an overestimation," he says."It won't be enough to guarantee that Delta will be the last big variant."The most likely way a new variant will plague us is the same way the U.K.
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