SCIENCE BEHIND THE DELTA VARIANT The Delta Variant, originating in India, is a variant of COVID-19 that is currently spreading rapidly around the world. As new research about the variant keeps surfacing, all the new information can get overwhelming. But, what is a variant? This article will go over all the basics of the science behind the Delta Variant. To first understand what a variant is, we need to understand what a virus is. A virus is a “microscopic parasite”, which is usually smaller than bacteria (Vidyasagar, 2016). Unlike bacteria, it needs a host to survive and to replicate in, and then continue to spread and infect other hosts. However, the virus doesn’t always replicate perfectly, and there end up being changes in its genetic sequence, called mutations. Viruses with a mutation or many mutations that differ from the original virus’s genetic sequence are called variants. If a variant becomes widely spread or established in a population, it may be referred to as a strain.
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All viruses mutate when they replicate, but usually, the mutations don’t significantly alter the properties of the virus or the way the virus functions. If a mutation or set of mutations confers an advantage onto the virus, such as allowing it to spread faster, the variant of the virus will become more prominent in the host population it is infecting. A variant can have many advantages in comparison to the original strain of the virus, due to the change in its genetic sequence. It can spread faster, cause greater symptoms, evade testing for the detection of the virus, infect despite the host being immune, etc. (Shah, 2021).
