U.K. COVID-19 variant may have emerged from 1 person with chronic infection


All viruses mutate over time as they travel from person to person. COVID-19 is no different, with gradual mutations emerging as more transmissible and potentially more deadly strains first found in the U.K., Brazil, South Africa, and elsewhere.
But the variant first found in the U.K. may have actually emerged all at once, mutating 17 times over while inside one person suffering a chronic COVID-19 infection, a new hypothesis suggests. That shocking idea has scientists scrambling to figure out how chronic infections might breed more variants — and how to stop them, Wired reports.
The B.1.1.7. variant was first identified back in September, and it quickly became clear that it was responsible for skyrocketing new infections in and around London. It's estimated to be at least 50 percent more transmissible than the original strain has since been found in more than 50 countries, including the U.S. And it caught scientists by surprise: "Sars-CoV-2 is a genetic slowpoke," Wired writes, and most of its slow mutations usually don't become noticeable even if they do make it beyond their host. So while it's possible B.1.1.7. mutated outside the U.K. in a place that doesn't pay close attention to mutations, the mutation's spread in the months since suggest it came out of one person.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It's clear scientists need to find out just how people with weakened immune systems provide COVID-19 with a perfect host for mutation. But the biggest problem right now is the rampant spread of the virus, and how that will allow even more mutations to pop up. Sharon Peacock, director of the COVID-19 Genomics U.K. consortium, warned BBC that we can only "stop worrying about" the coronavirus once it mutates beyond being infectious. "But I think, looking in the future, we're going to be doing this for years. We're still going to be doing this 10 years down the line, in my view."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Labubu: the 'creepy' dolls sparking brawls in the shops
Craze for the pint-sized soft toys has reached fever pitch among devotees
-
The top period dramas to stream now
The Week Recommends Heaving bosoms and billowing shirts are standard fare in these historical TV classics
-
Women need more pain management during gynecological procedures
Under the radar Pain should no longer be ignored
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sick
speed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last year
speed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
-
Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive order
speed read The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles
Speed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study finds
Speed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
Speed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreads
Speed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County