MADISON, Wis. (WXOW) – UW Health says the U.S. needs higher vaccination rates to relieve strain from healthcare systems and prevent issues with future variants.
The Delta variant is the dominant strain in the United States. As Delta spreads, health experts warn the public of a continued opportunity for new variants to emerge.
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According to the CDC, viruses constantly mutate and form new compositions resulting in differing traits from the original strain. New variants can be more contagious, severe, and deadly.
“The virus and the process of replicating made a mistake and the mistake changed the virus. It either made it less likely to infect people, [becoming] a less-good virus and those go away. It might have no effect,” said Jeff Pothof M.D., Chief Quality Officer at UW Health. “But then there are the variants/mutants that actually offer the virus features that make it more dangerous to us but better for the virus.”
The Delta variant became the dominant strain through a successful mutation, with the change in composition increasing the infection rate. Some data indicates Delta could infect twice as many individuals as the original COVID-19 strain. Transmission occurs through the transfer of viral particles. Delta creates 1,000 times as many particles as the original strain.
“Having that many virus particles enter your system, makes our immune systems work harder. Now often times they still manage it, especially if you’re vaccinated; it covers it. There are going to be more cases where even vaccinated people’s immune system just didn’t have a big enough army for the onslaught of virus particles,” said Pothof.
Variants successfully becoming the dominant strain is an example of “Natural Selection.” It is natural for the mutation and competition to continue. Vaccines and masks remain the best tools to limit the spread of the Delta variant and other known variants.
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