Recently, a woman arrived at a hospital in the Belgian city of Alsto. She was falling out of balance again and again. Although he was breathing fine. The oxygen level was also more than 94%, but in the investigation, it turned out to be infected with not one but two different variants of corona, ie two different types of corona. A few hours later, his lungs began to fail rapidly and he died on the fifth day.
The woman was infected with the alpha and beta variants of the corona. Both of these have been declared by WHO as "Variants of Concern" in December 2020. Actually, this is the first such case in the world in which someone got double infection from two variants. Scientists are considering it as a new type of corona.
Scientists discussed this unique case at the European Congress of Clinical Micro-Biology and Infectious Diseases last Saturday. Experts said that the world needs to be alert about double infection. This case is very special for India for two reasons. First, our country has active variants like delta, delta plus, lambda and kappa, and second, India is far behind in testing the variant, that is, genome sequencing.
Woman lived alone, was not vaccinated
Image Credit: Navbharat Times
- This 90-year-old woman did not have any special medical history, that is, she did not have other diseases.
- The woman lived alone and took nursing care at home.
- Initially, he had no problem in breathing. The oxygen level in his body was also good.
- How he got the infection from the two variants is also not clear.
- The woman did not get the corona vaccine.
Infection from two different people
Dr. Anne Venkierbergen, who led the report on the matter at the European Congress of Infectious Diseases, says that since the alpha and beta variants are spread in Belgium, there is every possibility that the woman was infected with two different people.
If you increase genome sequencing, you will get more such cases
Image Credit: Institute for Global Change
Although this case of Belgium is believed to be the first case in the world, but other researchers including Dr. Anne Venkierbergen say that in Brazil earlier this year, cases of infection with two variants were found, but on those cases. No research was done. These researchers say that if genome sequencing is further increased to investigate the variants of the coronavirus, then more cases like Belgium may come up.
Two variants were also found in flu patients
Dr. Venkierbergen says that even in common flu patients, more than one variant of the flu virus has been found before. In such a situation, it is not surprising that someone is infected with two variants of corona.
So do the two variants make the corona serious? Understand from three experts
Scientists say that getting two variants in one patient is likely to cause corona to be serious, but more research is yet to be done to confirm this claim.
- Dr. Anne Venkierbergen, who led the case report of the Belgian case, says it is difficult to say anything about the role of the two variants in the deteriorating condition of this Belgian woman. No other such case has come to the fore so far. Due to the lack of genome sequencing, little research has been done on the effect of double variants.
- Lawrence Young, a virologist and Professor of Molecular Oncology at the University of Warwick in England, says it is important to find out how the "variant of concern" affects the severity of COVID-19 and the efficacy of the vaccine.
- Dr. VS Chauhan, former director of the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Delhi, told in an interview that the seriousness of a patient is determined by his health, immunity and the firepower of the virus, not by different types of virus.
After all, what is this genome and genome sequencing?
- Genes decide everything from our biological characteristics like our height, hair color, color of our eyes. That is, the complete genetic code of an organism is called genome.
- Genome is the book that makes up an organism, so genes are the chapters of that book.
- No two organisms can have the same genome. Simply put, the genome is the identity card of the biological world.
- The genome of most organisms, including humans, is DNA, but the genome of viruses like corona is RNA.
- The study of the genome can be used to understand the structure, characteristics and working of any organism.
- The genome cannot be seen with the naked eye. It is extremely difficult to understand even when viewed under a microscope, so scientists turn it into a code. That's what genome sequencing is all about.
- The genome of a virus is RNA, so it is first converted into DNA for sequencing.
Now let us understand what is mutation of virus?
The corona virus makes its copy in the body of an infected person. This process is not very precise. During this, there is often some change in the genome sequence from the virus. This change is called mutation. This new form of the virus is called its new variant. Most mutations do not affect the virus, but there are many mutations that increase the ability of the virus to infect or protect against immunity. Due to this, the people infected with it start becoming seriously ill and the death rate also increases.
Why is genome sequencing extremely important in the fight against corona?
- Genome sequencing, that is, identification of corona variants, is very important in the fight against corona.
- Suppose suddenly the cases of corona increase in some area. In such a situation, it can be found out by genome sequencing whether this increase in numbers is due to the new variant or not?
- By identifying the variant, it is also known from where this virus came. The way it is being said that the Delta variant found in India has so far spread in 111 countries of the world.
Belgian case would not have been detected without genome sequencing
- If genome sequencing of the Belgian case had not taken place, it would not have been known that a person could be infected with either of the two variants.
- On this basis, scientists are now trying to find out whether the corona becomes more infectious or does not increase the risk of death.
