Novel coronavirus adapts to populations; vaccine works in monkeys

Reuters: A genetic analysis of samples from more than 7,500 people infected with COVID-19 suggests that as the new coronavirus spreads quickly around the world, it is adapting to its human hosts, researchers reported on Tuesday in the medical journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution. They found almost 200 recurrent genetic mutations of the new coronavirus - SARS-CoV-2 - that show how it may be evolving as it spreads in people.

“All viruses naturally mutate,” Francois Balloux of University College London, who co-led the research, told Reuters. “Mutations in themselves are not a bad thing and there is nothing to suggest SARS-CoV-2 is mutating faster or slower than expected. So far, we cannot say whether SARS-CoV-2 is becoming more or less lethal and contagious.”

In macaque monkeys, an experimental vaccine for the novel coronavirus safely induced antibodies that blocked several different SARS-CoV-2 strains, Chinese researchers reported on Wednesday in the journal Science. The researchers say tests of their vaccine candidate, “PiCoVacc,” in humans will likely begin later this year.

The true prevalence of problems with smell and taste among patients infected with the novel coronavirus may be higher than doctors realise, according to researchers who reviewed 10 studies published earlier this year. Among a total of more than 1,600 infected patients in North America, Asia, and Europe, nearly 53% had diminished or loss of sense of smell, and nearly 44% had problems with taste. In the subset of studies that used particularly reliable tests to evaluate patients’ ability to smell and taste, rates of dysfunction were even higher, suggesting “that the true prevalence of dysfunction in COVID-19 patients may remain underestimated,” the research team wrote on Tuesday in the journal Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery. Increased awareness “may encourage earlier diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, as well as heighten vigilance for viral spread.”