Science Behind the Delta Variant

By Kavya Gurunath, Edited by Juee Deshmukh, Uday Lingampalli, & Ameya Aneja, Layout by Alicia Guo, Art by Cal Shin-Koh, & Blogged by Taruni Manam

The Delta Variant has become a major headline topic as it spreads around the globe, but what is a variant and how do they occur? Keep reading to find out the 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.

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).

So far, there have been four variants of COVID-19: the Alpha variant, Beta variant, Gamma variant, and Delta Variant. The Alpha variant, which first originated in South Africa, has many mutations, some on the spike protein that the virus uses to enter our body, which allows it to spread easier. The Beta variant has similar mutations to the Alpha variant but also has mutations that make it harder for antibodies to get rid of it. It was also first found in South Africa. The Gamma variant has similar mutations to the Beta variant. Finally, the Delta variant, which originated in India, is 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant (Travis, 2021).

The Delta variant’s ability to pass on so easily has allowed it to start becoming the most widely spread variant of COVID-19. It can also avoid parts of our immune system, giving it even more of an advantage, as it is more likely to survive than some of the other variants. Antibodies have less of an effect on protecting cells from the Delta variant than the Alpha variant or the original strain from Wuhan, China. This is why it has become a massive problem around the world. To learn more about the Delta’s variant’s effect on the world, read the “Delta Variant” article in the Politics section of the magazine issue!

Even though the Delta variant is still a problem, even more variants will probably emerge as the pandemic continues. It is possible that a variant that won’t be affected by our vaccines will emerge. The best way to reduce the possibility that the virus will mutate is to reduce how much it replicates. As stated before, a virus needs a host to replicate. So if we can reduce transmission of the virus, it will replicate less, therefore reducing the possibility of more mutations. So stay safe, get vaccinated if you can, and hopefully, this pandemic will soon come to an end.

References:

Shah, D. (2021, May 11). What is a variant? An expert explains | News. Wellcome. https://wellcome.org/news/what-variant-expert-explains

Travis, K. (2021, July 2). What experts know so far about the delta variant. Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-delta-variant-transmission-vaccines

Vidyasagar, A. (2016, January 6). What Are Viruses? Livescience.Com. https://www.livescience.com/53272-what-is-a-virus.html

By Cal Shin-Koh