And six other Delta variant questions, answered by an epidemiologist.
, Ph.D., a research associate in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, tells SELF. Many mutations will be either neutral or harmful to a virus. But occasionally, a mutation or combination of mutations can allow the virus to infect a host more efficiently.
While we haven’t worked out all the details for why Delta is better at transmission than prior variants, it contains several mutations within the spike protein of the virus, which is the protein responsible for binding to cell surface receptors of the host. “Some of the mutations observed in Delta have been shown to increase the virus’s ability to bind to the human receptor, ACE2,” says Dr. McNamara, which could make transmission more efficient and play a role in its rapid global spread.
Dr. McNamara notes that Delta just emphasizes once again the importance of vaccination of those eligible, which currently includes those age 12 and up. “For those that are not yet eligible for the vaccine, the best thing we can do for them is to shield them by protecting ourselves and not putting them at risk. We know that vaccinations and other non-pharmaceutical interventions like mask-wearing and maintaining distance between each other can reduce transmission risk.
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