Re:Surviving the coronavirus, then testing positive again
by vanniv on Friday March 13, 2020 @05:54PM
(#22571200)
Others may change how fatal the infection is (in either direction)
This is actually one of the reasons that viruses generally become less deadly the longer they circulate through a population. A less-deadly version will spread faster (by not killing it's hosts), and will tend to outcompete a deadlier version
> Mutations occur all the time, there are already 10's of known mutations of virus, it doesn't mean there are 10 separate diseases.
I agree, but I'd like to add more details. Most mutations are irrelevant, and if you have antibodies for the original version, the same antibody is useful for the new version.
From time to time, the mutation is in the part that encodes the part that is recognized by the antibody, and then you may be infected by the new version.
[There are a lot of other mutations. A lot of mutations just make the virus not able to reproduce, or break some important part, so the mutated version just disappear. Another mutations make the virus more effective or less effective, so they change how bad the symptoms are.]