[메디게이트뉴스 김준홍 인턴기자·연세대 원주의대 본1] Whether the third coronavirus pandemic will continue or will be broken is at a crossroads. From the 6th to the 12th of this month, the number of new confirmed cases in Korea for a week was 838 → 869 → 674 → 641 → 664 → 451 → 537.
Experts stressed that the detection of the mutant virus requires vaccination from the elderly, and that quarantine measures must be thoroughly followed until the vaccine and treatment undergo a full clinical trial. On the 12th, Choi Jong-Hyun Academy held a webinar with the same content as’Corona 3rd Pandemic and Vaccine’.
Mutant virus, long-term infection of chronic disease presumed to be the cause
In Korea, 15 mutant viruses originated from the UK and 1 mutant virus from South Africa were confirmed. However, as the infectivity of the mutant virus is not very high, the need to give vaccines to long-term care patients is emphasized rather than excessive worries.
Professor Gwang-Seok Ahn of the Department of Life Sciences at Seoul National University said, “In viruses, mutations are fate. In particular, RNA viruses, unlike DNA, have a lot of mutations because polymerases do not have a corrective function. “Last September, a corona 19 variant (B117) from the UK was first reported.”
Professor Ahn explained the cause of the mutation with three hypotheses. First of all, it is a long-term COVID-19 infection of chronically ill patients with weakened immune systems.
Professor Ahn said, “When a healthy person is infected with Corona 19, virus replication occurs once and the virus is released. “But if the infected person suffers from a chronic disease, the virus can replicate up to 20 times because of weakened immunity. That means there are far more opportunities for mutation to occur.” He said, “If a vaccine is available, this is why long-term care patients should be vaccinated first.”
Next, there are cases where variants are caused by circulatory infection between animals and humans. Professor Ahn said, “The mutant virus that occurs in animals is sometimes transmitted to humans. This is the case when the influenza virus is mixed with bird flu, swine flu, and human flu virus, causing feces.”
Finally, a possibility was suggested that the virus appeared in a country with a low genome detoxification rate passed to the UK. In other words, no variation was found in the country of origin. Professor Ahn said, “In academia, the first hypothesis that a variant virus originating in the UK is most likely to be caused by a long-term infection of a chronically ill person.”
So, what effect does this mutant virus have? The UK has announced a 56% increase in contagiousness due to mutations. A mathematical model predicted that the G-type (D614G) mutation discovered in the United States six months ago would also have a propagation power of 6 times. However, in reality, the infectivity of the type G virus did not increase significantly.
Professor Ahn said, “In the future, scientific verification using animal models is necessary for accurate verification. Fortunately, no cases have been reported that the mutant virus causes more severe symptoms of Corona 19. Symptoms are expected to worsen than existing viruses, but virulence needs to be actively verified.”
Professor Ahn said, “It is important to continuously improve vaccines in line with mutations and to slow down the mutant clock with an active quarantine policy.” ”
Corona 19 treatment research in full swing, vaccine adverse reaction monitoring is also essential
Corona treatment is currently being developed in various ways. However, it is essential to comply with quarantine rules until the treatment and vaccine are clinically verified.
Professor Ryu Wang-sik of the Department of Biochemistry at Yonsei University expected that “viral therapy will play a big role in the treatment of coronavirus along with vaccines.”
For example, the Institut Pasteur Korea is looking for drugs to treat COVID-19 through drug re-creation. Drug re-creation refers to the process of finding drugs that have a therapeutic effect on viruses among existing drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Professor Ryu said, “This process has the advantage of shortening the development period because it skips phase 1 clinical trials and proceeds from phase 2,” said Professor Ryu. to be. As a result of the research, it was found that the drug efficacy against the coronavirus was more than 100 times higher than that of the antiviral drug’remdesivir’ at the cellular level.”
Professor Ryu added, “Clinical trials are currently in progress, and if passed, it is expected to contribute to the treatment of coronavirus.”
Professor Hongbin Kim of Infectious Medicine at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital said, “A variety of COVID-19 treatments have been developed, but the drugs recommended in clinical practice are limited.” . The steroid drug’dexamethasone’ is effective for patients treated with oxygen therapy or ventilator, and has the effect of reducing mortality.”
Professor Kim said, “The first vaccine was approved less than a year after the coronavirus gene was discovered. Compared to other pandemics in the past, this is a very fast speed. “After the vaccine is supplied, adverse reactions may occur. He said, “We must communicate with the public on the basis of scientific evidence on adverse reactions and obtain public consent for vaccination.”
Professor Kim said, “If the people cooperate with each other, we can succeed in COVID-19 collective immunity. However, now that vaccines and treatments are scarce, it is most important to follow social distancing and quarantine rules.”