• Question: How often do mutations in a virus happen?

    Asked by anon-256917 on 16 Jun 2020.
    • Photo: Nicole Wheeler

      Nicole Wheeler answered on 16 Jun 2020:

      Hi David,
      Great question! This varies a lot depending on the virus. Generally speaking, viruses that use DNA to carry their genetic code mutate more slowly than ones that use RNA. The coronavirus is an RNA virus but is actually mutating more slowly than a lot of RNA viruses. From what I’ve heard from people working on the virus, I think we’re seeing 2 mutations accumulating per month. This means that a lot of people who catch the virus from each other may carry identical viruses, which lowers the risk of big changes in how dangerous the virus is, and of our immune systems not being able to fight off a second infection. The downside is there’s a limit in what we can learn from DNA sequencing of covid from patients – if it was mutating faster we could see who infected who.
      Hope that’s helpful!
      Nicole

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