Coronavirus: scientific study connects for the first time the role of saliva in the transmission of the virus



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Good evidence πως ο coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 can also infect cells of oral announced that he had found an international team for the first time scientists .

This probably highlights the role of saliva in the transmission of the virus. The researchers emphasized that “the mouth, through its infected cells, plays a more important role in COVID-19 contagion than considered so far “.

It was known that although the lungs are the main target of Covid-19 infection, the coronavirus can infect other parts of the body, such as the digestive system, blood vessels, kidneys, and more. THE new study indicates that the mouth should be added to the list.

Oral infection, in addition to symptoms such as loss of taste, dry mouth and cold sores in some patients, probably indicates that the mouth plays a role in the transmission of the virus through saliva, when it contains a large viral load of infected cells .

The researchers, led by scientists National Institutes of Health The study, which was published in the journal Nature Medicine, said it was known that the saliva of Covid-19 patients can contain large amounts of the coronavirus. Studies have already shown that the saliva test is almost as reliable as the nasopharynx in diagnosing the disease.

What scientists haven’t been sure of so far is where the saliva coronavirus comes from. In patients with Covid-19 who have respiratory symptoms, the virus in saliva probably comes, at least in part, from nasal and lung secretions. But the same explanation cannot be given for how the coronavirus is present in the saliva of patients without respiratory symptoms. The conclusion of the new research is that at least part of this virus comes from the infected tissues of the mouth.

The researchers found in the laboratory that some parts of the mouth are more vulnerable to coronavirus infection, which they confirmed with sample analysis of patients who had died from Covid-19. This was followed by the discovery that even in people with mild or asymptomatic Covid-19, there was evidence of coronavirus infection in their oral tissues.

Finally, scientists have shown in the laboratory that saliva from asymptomatic people can infect coronavirus cells in healthy people, raising the possibility that even asymptomatic people can transmit Covid-19 infection to others through saliva.

“When contaminated saliva is ingested or its tiny particles are inhaled, we believe it can transmit the SARS-CoV-2 virus deeper into the throat, lungs, or even our intestines,” said Kevin Byrd, assistant professor at B. Caroline University. .

The researchers said more research is needed to confirm these findings in a larger sample of people and to determine the exact role of the mouth in coronavirus infection, as well as its role in transmitting the virus both inside and outside the body of the patient.

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