Coronavirus: rapid virus mutations in some children may complicate search for vaccine

Chinese researchers found the frequency of genetic changes varied from one child to another and did not appear to follow a coherent pattern

Samples taken from one child in study found the virus had mutated in just one day

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Chinese researchers have found a “novel mutation” in the intestines of some children recovering from Covid-19, a development that may have implications for the developers of a vaccine. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:00am, 10 Nov 2020Updated: 6:31am, 10 Nov 2020

The novel coronavirus is capable of rapid mutation in the gut of children, according to a new study by Chinese scientists.

A Sars-CoV-2 viral strain typically accumulates one or two mutations per month as it spreads from one person to another, according to estimates based on modelling.

But in the intestines of some children recovering from Covid-19, a “novel mutation” to change the virus’ form or function could occur within a day as they multiplied inside the same carrier, the researchers found.

“We identified 229 intra-host variants at 182 sites … [They are] reflecting highly dynamic intra-host viral populations,” said the team led by professor Li Mingkun of the Beijing Institute of Genomics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Journal of Genetics and Genomics on Sunday.

Mutations threaten the many drugs and vaccines under development to fight the pandemic. Around the world, scientists have identified more than 21,000 mutations that have occurred in the ribonucleic acid (RNA) of Sars-CoV-2 virus so far, according to the China National Centre for Bioinformation.

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