New York, May 5: At a time when the world is grappling to contain the spread of the deadly virus, scientists of the United States have identified a new mutated version of the deadly virus. The new strain discovered by the scientists are highly-potent and is more contagious than the versions of the virus in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. This new strain has now become more dominant in the world. Coronavirus Outbreak: Conspiracy Theories Floating on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp About Deadly Virus Spread.

This new study is led by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory. According to a report published by Los Angeles Times, the new strain appeared in February in Europe, migrated quickly to the East Coast of the United States. This mutant version of the deadly virus has become dominant across the world since mid-March.

The scientists claimed that not only the mutated version spread faster, but can also make people vulnerable to a second infection. The 33-page-study was posted Thursday on BioRxiv. It is a website that researchers use to share their work before it is peer-reviewed. The study is largely based on the genetic sequence of earlier strains. US Says Probing if Coronavirus Came from Chinese Lab.

The mutation affects the now-infamous spikes on the exterior of the coronavirus, which allow it to enter human respiratory cells. The authors said they felt an “urgent need for an early warning” so that vaccines manufacturers around the world will be prepared to take on the more deadly mutated strain.

The research was based on a computational analysis of more than 6,000 coronavirus sequences from around the world. The Los Alamos team, along with by scientists at Duke University and the University of Sheffield in England, identified 14 mutations. “The story is worrying, as we see a mutated form of the virus very rapidly emerging, and over the month of March becoming the dominant pandemic form,” study leader Bette Korber from Los Alamos, wrote on her Facebook page.

The scientists also claimed that they had developed an analysis pipeline to facilitate real-time mutation tracking in SARS-CoV-2. This has been achieved by focusing initially on the Spike (S) protein because it mediates infection of human cells and is the target of most vaccine strategies and antibody-based therapeutics.

(With inputs from IANS)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 06, 2020 01:24 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).