Groover wrote:Please explain the lambda variant….
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Good question: https://www.health.gov.au/news/top-3-co ... hilst-sick
The first question today is about some of the chatter that we are hearing around the Lambda variant.
As you know, viruses change, they mutate. Every time a virus replicates, every time a virus copies itself, there is a chance that it might make a mistake in that copy and that's what we call a mutation. Most mutations don't make a change or actually render the virus unviable, which means that they don't pass on. But some mutations give the virus an advantage. If that advantage can be that it transmits itself more, that it makes more copies of itself or that it's harder to combat by our immune system, those advantageous mutations that are advantageous for the virus, not for us, often get selected as part of natural selection and then new variants or strains of the viruses emerge. That's what we have seen with the so-called Delta variant and that is more transmissible that is causing the majority of the outbreaks in Australia at the moment. The variants have a complex naming system but, for simplicity, are now getting named by the Greek alphabet letters. We are currently fighting the Delta variant. The dominant strain from last year that was first identified in the UK was the alpha variant, and now we are talking about the Lambda variant which is a variant that was first identified in Peru in December 2020 and it's growing prevalence in South America at the moment. The scientific community is still investigating the context of the Lambda variant and what it means in terms of transmissibility and severity and there is no conclusive data yet. We will keep reviewing what the evidence is and base our public policies on the information that arises. It's important to note as well that the WHO classifies different strains of the virus as variants of interest or variants of concern. A variant of interest is a variety of the virus that may exhibit some of the mutations that give an implication that it may be more transmissible or more severe or have impact into the disease progression, but until it is understood that that is actually happening within the population they don't get classed as a variant of concern. Delta, the variant that is causing the majority of the transmission in Australia at the moment, is a variant of concern, whereas Lamda at the moment is a variant of interest. We will keep you updated as more information comes available.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandso ... now-so-far
