Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren bogebom here. There have been multiple
Speaker 1: coronavirus variants circulating around the globe since COVID nineteen first
Speaker 1: emerged as a threat some eighteen months ago. The latest
Speaker 1: one to create concern is the Delta variant, first detected
Speaker 1: in December of Considered around sixty more transmissible than the
Speaker 1: already highly infectious Alpha variant, Delta has spread to at
Speaker 1: least eighty countries, including the United States, and is now
Speaker 1: the UK's most dominant strain, responsible for n of new cases.
Speaker 1: Designated by the World Health Organization or WHO as a
Speaker 1: Global Variant of Concern, Delta is responsible for the second
Speaker 1: deadly wave of infections that have decimated India, a country
Speaker 1: that on June nine reached a world record daily high
Speaker 1: of more than six thousand deaths in one day. So
Speaker 1: let's talk about how these variants work. The novel coronavirus disease,
Speaker 1: or COVID nineteen, is caused by a single species of
Speaker 1: virus known as SARS cove two. When the original virus,
Speaker 1: also called normal or wild type, replicates or copies itself,
Speaker 1: the sequence of its molecules called nucleotides, sometimes changes from
Speaker 1: the original virus. These changes are called mutations. Most of
Speaker 1: the time these variations make the virus weaker, but sometimes
Speaker 1: they can make the virus stronger, more contagious, or more
Speaker 1: resistant to the actions of our immune systems. These variations
Speaker 1: of the wild type virus or variance catch the eye
Speaker 1: of health officials in the global SARS cove To Laboratory
Speaker 1: network at the WHOSE Virus Evolution Working Group. The group
Speaker 1: is tasked with quickly detecting variants and assessing their possible impact.
Speaker 1: A Delta is the fourth global variant of concern that
Speaker 1: WHO has ideaified since the pandemic began. The three others, alpha,
Speaker 1: beta and gamma were first identified in the United Kingdom,
Speaker 1: South Africa, and Brazil, respectively. Delta was first identified in India.
Speaker 1: The WHO began naming these coronavirus variants after letters of
Speaker 1: the Greek alphabet to simplify the scientific names, which I
Speaker 1: have not included here because their long chains of letters
Speaker 1: and numbers, and also to avoid stigmatizing the countries from
Speaker 1: where the new strains originate. The delta variant has become
Speaker 1: a variant of concern due to some mutations in its
Speaker 1: spike protein, which formed the spiky looking protrusions on the
Speaker 1: surface of the virus, which inspired the name coronavirus to
Speaker 1: start with, and which in our bodies penetrate our cells
Speaker 1: and cause infection. At least four different mutations in the
Speaker 1: delta variant have been associated with faster spread and or
Speaker 1: higher infectivity based on previous variants with similar mutations, and
Speaker 1: it also seems to give people different symptoms. Oh. With
Speaker 1: the original wild coronavirus, you can expect to have symptoms
Speaker 1: including fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue,
Speaker 1: muscle or body aches, a loss of taste or smell,
Speaker 1: nausea or vomiting or diarrhea. However, the Delta variant appears
Speaker 1: to be slightly different. Data gathered from the UK's ZOE
Speaker 1: covid Symptoms study app showed the people in the UK
Speaker 1: described headaches, sore throats, running noses, and fever to be
Speaker 1: the most prevalent symptoms. Blood clots are also a concerning
Speaker 1: complication of COVID nineteen, but a cardiologist in Mumbai, India
Speaker 1: told Bloomberg that he's seen a surprising number and type
Speaker 1: of blood clots in recent COVID nineteen patients across age
Speaker 1: groups with no past history of abnormal clotting, and that
Speaker 1: he and his colleagues suspect it's a result of the
Speaker 1: delta variant. However, it is important to note that these
Speaker 1: observations are anecdotal and not based on scientific research. At
Speaker 1: this time, the m RNA vaccines are proving their worth
Speaker 1: in countries where shots are more readily available. India, although
Speaker 1: home to the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, is struggling with
Speaker 1: a major internal shortage of shots. A little more than
Speaker 1: ten percent of the country's population has received just one vaccine.
Speaker 1: In the United States, as of late June, just over half,
Speaker 1: or fifty three point oh three percent of the U
Speaker 1: S population was fully vaccinated, and both new cases of
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen and related deaths have been trending downward. But
Speaker 1: in a White House COVID nineteen Response Team press briefing
Speaker 1: on June twenty second, doctor Anthony Faucci, chief Medical Adviser
Speaker 1: to the President, said cases of the delta variant have
Speaker 1: doubled in about two weeks. In early May, the delta
Speaker 1: variant accounted for just one point two percent of cases,
Speaker 1: he said, and now it accounts for twenty point six percent.
Speaker 1: He said that the US seems to be following the
Speaker 1: same pattern as the uk A, where the delta variant
Speaker 1: became dominant very quickly and now makes up of cases there.
Speaker 1: The dominant strain in the US is currently the alpha variant,
Speaker 1: but Fauci warned that delta could soon become the dominant
Speaker 1: strain in the US as well, and so that it's
Speaker 1: quote currently the greatest threat in the US to our
Speaker 1: attempt to eliminate COVID nineteen one age group where cases
Speaker 1: are climbing the most is among twelve to twenty year olds.
Speaker 1: One reason maybe because this age group has been among
Speaker 1: the last to get vaccinated. For the article, this episode
Speaker 1: is based on how Stuff Work spoke with Dr Paul Getford,
Speaker 1: a professor of medicine at the University of Alabama in
Speaker 1: Birmingham and an expert in vaccine design. He said, Initially,
Speaker 1: we try to vaccinate our older population, and rightfully so,
Speaker 1: and we're seeing the benefits of that in decreased hospitalizations.
Speaker 1: But now we're seeing infections that are mainly in younger people,
Speaker 1: and we're focusing on the fact that it's not a
Speaker 1: completely benign infection. In younger people, they're not as at risk,
Speaker 1: but they have problems too with this, and some of
Speaker 1: them get really, really sick. It's too early to say
Speaker 1: for sure whether approved COVID nineteen vaccines protect against the
Speaker 1: delta variant, but early data is promising. According to a
Speaker 1: preprint study conducted in the UK, one dose of the
Speaker 1: two dose Fiser vaccine provided about thirty three percent protection
Speaker 1: against the delta variant. Two doses were eight eight percent effective.
Speaker 1: No data has been published to date on the efficacy
Speaker 1: of the other two vaccines approved by the Food and
Speaker 1: Drug Administration or f d A for emergency use in
Speaker 1: the US, being the two shot Maderna vaccine or the
Speaker 1: one shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine against the delta variant,
Speaker 1: but Fauci said in that June twenty second press briefing
Speaker 1: that he believes in the vaccines efficacy quote the effectiveness
Speaker 1: of the vaccines in this case, two weeks after the
Speaker 1: second dose of Fiser was percent effective against the delta
Speaker 1: and nine effective against the alpha. When you're dealing with
Speaker 1: symptomatic disease, we have the tools, so let's use them.
Speaker 1: And crush the outbreak. However, the CDC notes that the
Speaker 1: delta variant might be able to avoid the antibodies that
Speaker 1: our bodies produce after a vaccination or a coronavirus infection,
Speaker 1: and for those who do get infected, the monoclonal antibody
Speaker 1: treatments or treatments for those who have COVID nineteen might
Speaker 1: be less effective against the delta variant. And that's scary
Speaker 1: because a study published on June fourteenth in the science
Speaker 1: journal The Lancet found that those infected by the delta
Speaker 1: variant were about twice as likely to be hospitalized than
Speaker 1: those infected by the alpha variant. Both Madernas and VISORS
Speaker 1: COVID vaccines are made using mr NA technology. Previous studies
Speaker 1: have shown that a full double dose of Visors or
Speaker 1: Madernas vaccine provides and ent protection against the original virus, respectively.
Speaker 1: Johnson Johnson's one shot vaccine, which uses a modified ADA
Speaker 1: NO virus, was found seventy effective against the wild type virus.
Speaker 1: Giptford said, these vaccines are remarkable. Even in older adults,
Speaker 1: it works really really well, which is unusual for most
Speaker 1: any vaccine that we have, So that's just remarkable. Today's
Speaker 1: episode is based on the article Delta variant Maybe the
Speaker 1: Greatest spread Eliminating COVID nineteen on how stuffworks dot Com,
Speaker 1: written by Jennifer Walker. Journey brain Stuff is production of
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and
Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler Clang. The four more podcasts from
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