Can Covid Mix With Our DNA? | the Chronicle

The hypothesis was first raised in December last year by scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who proposed that the genetic parts of the virus can integrate into DNA and stay in the body despite recovery. The theory offers a possible explanation for Covid patients who have recovered from the disease since get sick again months later.

The study it was not well received by the scientific community, and many have accused him of stir up unfounded fears about Covid 19 without sufficient information to support the theory. A report that responded to the controversial article pointed out that unions between Covid and the genetic material detected were artificially generated by the methodology used in the study, and they did not happen naturally.

The leaders of this research, the scientists Rudolf Jaenischy Richard young, recognized that the the accusation was correct, and that the publication of the study prematurely was “a bad decisionDetermined to continue their analysis, the research team continued to delve into the original hypothesis and into the last published hours. a revised version that brings new evidence to the debate.

The original article proposed that, on certain occasions, the enzymes of the infected individual could copy coronavirus RNA sequences into human DNA, integrating part of the virus into our chromosomes. The methods used in the review of the first study eliminated the accidental creation of these mutated chromosomes and found that the cross between the DNA and the genetic material of the virus continues to occur.

Stephen hughes, American scientist from National Cancer Institute, had criticized the first study and was offered to participate in the second to improve the technique and ensure accurate results. Now listed as a co-author, he says the study has “the result is significant“, and like other excerpts from the first article, he asserts that the hypothesis could turn out to be “plausible“.

Despite the progress, Young acknowledges that “we have no direct evidence“To conclusively ensure that the union of the coronavirus and the human genome occurs in infected patients.”