Researchers at the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) have successfully identified specific changes in a number of mutated strains of Coronavirus found in different countries including Pakistan.
During the research, QAU researchers, in collaboration with Chinese and American researchers, studied the genomes of more than 160 strains of Coronavirus obtained from 40 countries around the world.
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According to the findings of the research published in NATURE’s Genes and Immunity journal, these changes have increased the Coronavirus’s ability to easily breach the human immune system. It has also resulted in the viral infection spreading rapidly to the lower respiratory tract of human beings and causing more severe respiratory illness than before.
Dr. Amir Ali Abbasi, Professor and Chairperson at the QAU’s National Center for Bioinformatics, has said that the findings of the study can be used to design inhibitors, small molecules that stop or slow down a process, to disable specific functions of Coronavirus.
He added that mutating Coronaviruses are a major impediment to breaking the chain of the pandemic because vaccines or drugs no longer prove effective in the case of mutated viruses.
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He said that if scientists focus their efforts on the parts of the Coronavirus that are less likely to mutate, the world has a better chance of witnessing vaccines and drugs that will be effective for the long term.
Pakistan is also facing the second and more deadly Coronavirus outbreak at the moment, noted Dr. Amir, adding the study could be useful in making important healthcare decisions in the country to curb the spread of the disease.
