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The Guru Alan Cann said in his most excellent textbook that "“Mutant,” “strain,” “type,” “variant,” and even “isolate” are all terms used rather loosely to differentiate particular viruses from each other and from the original “parental,” “wild-type,” or “street” isolates". 1/n
It would be a VERY good idea if everyone that is tweeting about "the new strain of SARS-CoV-2" take time out to READ something on virus variation, and not re-invent or inappropriately use terms that are not apt to the "variants" that are being found 2/n
Use of the term "strain" for a virus isolate implies biological as well as sequence changes from a prototype isolate - and we do not yet have evidence that this is the case for SARS-CoV-2. 3/n
Back to the Guru:
"Variant: A virus whose phenotype differs from the original wild-type strain but the genetic basis for the difference is not known, for example, a new clinical isolate from a patient". Sound about right? @AJCann 4/4
"Variant: A virus whose phenotype differs from the original wild-type strain but the genetic basis for the difference is not known, for example, a new clinical isolate from a patient". Sound about right? @AJCann 4/4
