New Outbreak in China Suggests Coronavirus May Be Mutating

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Doctors in China have observed that the coronavirus is manifesting differently among patients from a new outbreak in the country’s northeast, compared to the original outbreak in Wuhan.

The data suggest that the pathogen may be mutating in unknown ways, which hinders the efforts to eradicate it.

Patients in the northern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang seem to carry the virus for a more extended period, and their tests take longer to come back negative, said Qiu Haibo, one of China’s leading physicians specializing in intensive care, in an interview with the state TV channel.

Patients in China’s northeast also seem to take longer than one to two weeks to develop symptoms after infection – the time frame observed in Wuhan – and that delay makes it difficult for authorities to identify cases before they infect more people, said Qiu, who is currently in the northern region treating patients.

“Since the infected patients did not present symptoms for a longer period, this has led to family outbreaks,” said Qiu, who served in Wuhan to help fight the original outbreak. Over the past two weeks, 46 cases have been reported across three cities – Shulan, Jilin, and Shengyang – in two provinces. The new outbreak led to new containment measures in a region of 100 million people.

Scientists are still unsure whether the virus is undergoing a significant mutation. The differences detected by Chinese doctors may be related to their ability to observe patients in greater detail and at an earlier stage than in Wuhan. When the outbreak broke out in central China, the healthcare system became so overburdened that only the most critical cases were addressed. The northeast outbreak is also much smaller than the Hubei outbreak, which infected over 68,000 people.

Nevertheless, the results suggest that uncertainty about how the virus is manifesting may hamper governments’ efforts to contain the pathogen’s spread and reopen weakened economies. China has one of the most comprehensive virus detection and testing systems globally and is still struggling to contain the new outbreak.

Researchers in several countries are trying to determine whether the virus is mutating and becoming more contagious among the population, but preliminary research suggesting this possibility has been criticized as excessive.

“In theory, some mutations in genetic structure may lead to changes in the virus’ structure or how the virus behaves,” said Keiji Fukuda, director and clinical professor at the Hong Kong University School of Public Health. “However, many mutations do not lead to discernible changes.”

Findings in China likely have no single correlation with a mutation, and “unequivocal evidence” is required before determining that the virus is mutating.

Source: UOL