Evidence is mounting that the killer coronavirus has already mutated into dozens of new strains, but the dire warnings of scientists appear to be falling, yet again, on the deaf ears of those coordinating the pandemic.Several studies have confirmed the mutation phenomenon is a reality for the Wuhan virus but the World Health Organization appears to be unwilling to draw conclusions from these early studies.The official line is still: there is no evidence that the virus has been changing.Viruses are incredibly complex, especially the novel variety, so caution is understandable.A virus is neither alive nor dead and it continues existing through a process of replication which inevitably becomes error-ridden.Those mistakes in genetic sequencing become mutations.This is a function of existence which is both unavoidable and the very reason species evolve.It is simply untrue to suggest that there is no evidence the virus has been changing and the WHOs stance has been puzzling to scientists who study viruses and understand how they evolve.According to epidemiologist Erik Volz at Imperial College London, all viruses mutate and COVID-19 is no exception.I think its a fact that there are two strains, he said.Its normal for viruses to undergo evolution when they are transmitted to a new host.University of Reading biomedical scientist Ian Jones reveals a virus mutates half a dozen times each time it replicates in its victims respiratory tract.There is plenty of evidence the virus is changing but the WHO is reluctant to accept this well-documented scientific fact.And why does it matter?Different strains can vastly change the direction of this pandemic. Strains can be more aggressive, contain a more potent viral load, as scientists describe it, and even target specific demographics more ferociously.All of which could have vast implications for isolation policies such as the effectiveness of herd immunity or the need for people with certain medical conditions to isolate for longer periods of time.Researchers in India believe they have discovered evidence of at least 10 different strains.National Institute of Biomedical Genomics researcher Partha Majumder believes the Wuhan virus started off as an ancestral O-type strain before splitting off into several other versions.That original strain, now dubbed SARS-CoV2, appeared to be a bolstered version of the old SARS virus which had muted to have better transmission rates.To live, a virus must propagate by infecting other animals, he wrote.A mutation usually disables the virus from transmitting itself.However, some mutations enable the virus to transmit more efficiently and infect more persons.Such mutant viruses increase the frequency of transmission and sometimes completely replace the original type of the virus. The SARS-CoV2 is doing just that."Concerningly one strain, A2a, accounted for nearly half of test samples making it the most dominant strain the Indian team encountered.As scientists from different fields begin to pool their experiences with the virus it is becoming clearer that specific demographics are more at risk to the mutated strains.Obesity and age appear to be the largest and most obvious risk factors, but it has emerged that at least some strains of the Wuhan virus are triggering stokes in people outside of those demographic confines.Researchers at the New England Journal of Medicine are probing the deaths of five coronavirus patients, all aged under 50, who suffered large vessel strokes in a two week period.Of the five, one patient died, one is in intensive care and three are in post-stroke recovery.The concern for researchers were the near-complete lack of symptoms for all individuals.It appears that one strain of the coronavirus targets large blood vessels in a manner similar to what happened with the first SARS outbreak.Moreover, large-vessel stroke was reported in association with the 2004 SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in Singapore, the researchers wrote.Coagulopathy and vascular endothelial dysfunction have been proposed as complications of Covid-19.3 The association between large-vessel stroke and Covid-19 in young patients requires further investigation.It is disappointing that senior health officials at the WHO have failed to address any of the above concerns.While the scientific community does not share consensus issuing absolutist statements suggesting the virus cannot mutate, or cannot be transmitted from person to person, is dangerous and could have very deadly consequences.As more is learned about the Wuhan virus the real experts must be brought into the conversation and our leaders must be cautious about taking advice from an organisation which has got so much wrong.

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COVID 2.0: The deadly evolution of misinformation - Sky News Australia