viral strain
Mutated pathogen version
A viral strain is a genetic variant of a virus, distinguished from other versions by specific mutations or characteristics.
Scientists track strains to monitor how viruses evolve: The new strain spreads more easily than earlier variants.
During outbreaks, strain identification helps determine vaccine effectiveness and predict disease severity.
The term appears frequently in discussions of influenza, COVID-19, and other infectious diseases.
- mutantGenetically altered organism
- variantDiffering form of something
- pathogenDisease-causing microorganism
- contagiousTransmissible between people
- super spreaderHighly contagious transmitter
outbreak · patient zero · epidemic · mutation · infectious · flu · flu season · coronavirus · RNA · DNA · host · replication · transmission · antibody · vaccine · isolate · spread · virulent
- strainswild type, indica, sativa, landrace
- Virologybacteriophage, tropism, retroviral, cell lysis, lytic
- viral evolutionmutation, variant, mutant, recombination, reassortment
- epidemicsepidemic, pandemic, outbreak, disease, Black Death
- Fluflu, flu shot, flu vaccine, flu season, flu symptoms