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Large_Ad_3095 t1_jdk4jzs wrote

Reply to comment by Alwayssunnyinarizona in What happened to the old COVID variants, like Delta? Could they come back? by number1dork

They also continue to exist in chronically infected people, mutating over the course of infections that could last years(or decades?)

These are 3 Delta variants detected this January, one of which was up to 90 mutations(and probably still mutating):
https://twitter.com/LongDesertTrain/status/1624464486596849670

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Alwayssunnyinarizona t1_jdk59ar wrote

Similar thing happens in cats with FIP, another coronavirus.

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Large_Ad_3095 t1_jdk6rj3 wrote

I never knew that! I just read that it can turn fatal due to a mutation, but do these spread in cats like COVID variants? Omicron and Delta already demonstrated that outcompeted variants can come back far worse.

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Alwayssunnyinarizona t1_jdk7931 wrote

They're typically mild infections, but some cats can be chronically infected. In those cats, a mutation in part of a specific gene can cause FIP.

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Large_Ad_3095 t1_jdk80dc wrote

Sorry, what I meant to ask is if such a mutation could go beyond the chronically infected cat and replace other FIP viruses.

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Alwayssunnyinarizona t1_jdkb53l wrote

Ah, I see. I need to read up more on feline coronaviruses, but my understanding is that the disease itself (FIP) is not transmissible per se. One cat with FIP won't give FIP to another cat, for example - it's a syndrome that is as much cat-dependent as it is virus dependent.

The coronaviruses themselves (there are various strains) are transmissible, but you need a specific mutation in a chronically infected cat to cause FIP. Once that virus has mutated, it may infect other cats, but won't cause FIP. I am not aware of any particular strain that is guaranteed to mutate and produce FIP in every (or even most) cats.

Does that make sense?

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