3 ms·
Can someone eli5 why some variants are substrains like Delta AY3 and what or how much has to change to have it declared as a new strain?
by chefkoch 5y ago
Can someone eli5 why some variants are substrains like Delta AY3 and what or how much has to change to have it declared as a new strain?
- polynomial 5y agoThis is a really great question. Technically speaking, any single mutation defines a new strain. But that's not how we tend to talk about it either to the general public or amongst clinicians. Rather we use a more informal notion of a significant functional change. We do this because there is, somewhat surprisingly, no real term that reflects the category of "new strain with significant or interesting functional effects."
- chefkoch 5y agoThank you for the explanation.