Health
What’s the difference between mutations, variants and strains? A guide to COVID terminology – The Conversation AU
In the context of COVID-19, we’re hearing about new mutations, strains and variants all the time. It’s no wonder it can all get a bit confusing.
Living through a global pandemic over the past year has seen all of us expanding our vocabularies. We now understand terms like PPE, social distancing and contact tracing.
But just when perhaps we thought we had a handle on most of the terminology, were faced with another set of new words: mutation, variant and strain.
So, what do they mean?
The genetic material of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, is called ribonucleic acid (RNA). To replicate, and therefore establish infection,…
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