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Most people reading this will have vivid memories of the COVID pandemic, and while there are lots of differing opinions on almost everything about that event, one thing we can all agree on is that we don’t want to go through that again.
Unfortunately, the fact that viruses are constantly evolving and changing means that at some point, it is likely that one will come along that will end up causing another pandemic. Depending on the specifics of that virus, it may be much more serious than COVID or potentially milder.
One way to try to minimize the risk of a future pandemic, or any type of viral illness from developing, is to study how viruses evolve and find ways to prevent them from putting humans at risk, and that is just what a team of researchers has done.
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Specifically, the researchers looked at the fact that certain genetic factors in a host organism can have a strong impact on how a virus evolves. The study, which was conducted on mice, has been published in the journal Nature Communications.
In a statement on the study, co-author Rodrigo Costa said:
“Some hosts seem to select for virulence-associated mutations, virulence traits that affect other hosts as well. This supports the idea that if a virus infects them, then it’ll become worse for the entire population. We don’t know this yet, but it’s what our work indicates that could be happening.”
The researchers used an H3N2 influenza A virus that was adapted specifically for the mice. Anytime a virus infects a host, it has a good chance of adapting and evolving as it multiplies. During the study, the team was able to identify 28 different strains of the virus that ended up developing. Cost explains why this is important:
“At the beginning of a pandemic, the virus comes from some animal and infects a new host species, where it acquires mutations that allow it to replicate faster. And that’s what we’re seeing with our experimental work. It’s emulating that first wave of infection and that first time a virus sees a population of new hosts.”
To put it simply, if a virus enters a host and that host happens to have genetics that make it more likely for the virus to evolve to be better able to spread within the host species, it will pass on to others more easily.
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If this applies to humans, that means that if a host with these genetics gets the virus early on, it will spread to others more quickly and easily, potentially becoming a pandemic.
While a lot more work needs to be done on this, the research may someday lead to a situation where those who have these genes could get vaccinated early, or be asked to quarantine sooner, in order to minimize the risk of a virus spreading.
Even if it never comes to that, learning more about how viruses evolve is always important information when it comes to the constant battle for survival.
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