After tracking virus mutations across global databases, researchers conclude that though the drug can 'fatally weaken' COVID-19, it does not kill all the viruses, and 'some mutated viruses can spread'.
A drug used to treat COVID-19 may, in fact, be helping spread the illness, scientists have said.
But researchers who mapped virus mutations across global databases, have found that some COVID mutations strongly linked to patients taking molnupiravir were very different to the usual mutations they saw, meaning it could lead to further infection. "But what we've found is that in some patients this process doesn't kill all the viruses, and some mutated viruses can spread," he said.
The study, by researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, the University of Liverpool, the University of Cape Town and the UK Health Security Agency , also found the mutations were more likely in older age groups consistent with the use of the antivirals to treat people who are more at risk.AdvertisementBereaved families tell Hancock to go away