Sars-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 continues to grow and has many variants. Call it Alpha, Beta, Delta, Lambda, and Omicron which have been present in the last two years. Not to mention, dozens of variants detected but not considered a high priority by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Then, is the evolution of the corona virus unusual or does other viruses actually continue to mutate and have many variants?
Viruses actually do continue to replicate, but sometimes the replication is different. This is said by Suman Das Associate Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He researched many viruses including Sars-CoV-2.
When a virus uses the host cell's machinery to copy its genetic material, errors such as random addition, transfer, and substitution called mutations can occur. Most random mutations can render the virus inanimate or have no effect at all, but some mutations can give it an edge over the previous version.
Quoted from Science Alert, some mutations help viruses evade the benefits of vaccines or make pathogens more transmissible. Mutations that help viruses live longer and make it easier to replicate make them survive. That's how the emergence of new variants.
Like the influenza virus, RSV, enterovirus, and rhinovirus, which cause the common cold, Sars-CoV-2 carries its genetic information on RNA strands. Compared to other RNA viruses, the mutation rate in Sars-CoV-2 is not particularly remarkable, according to Katie Kistler, a postdoctoral researcher who studies virus evolution at the Red Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
In essence, Sars-CoV-2 did not mutate at an unusually fast rate. But other factors at play, such as the high transmissibility of the virus, its transition from an animal host to humans, and the development of new treatments and vaccines, may have increased the number of Sars-CoV-2 variants we have seen in such a short time.
Lastly, the changes we are seeing in Sars-CoV-2 are also driven in part by the rapid development of vaccines and treatments designed to fight them. Compared to the early days of the pandemic, there is now more selection pressure on the virus.