Until now it was known that the coronavirus is very dangerous for humans, but recent national research has also shown that the virus can be much more flexible and resistant than previously thought. All of this can also contribute to its unusually high infectivity.

Coronavirus – the second wave

Half a year after the spring outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the second wave of the pandemic has arrived. The radical increase in the number of infected is forcing more and more countries to reimpose restrictions, although the world economy has not even recovered from the effects of the spring outbreak. According to the posters, the second wave also reached Hungary. Follow our news!

Researchers from the University of Semmelweis, in collaboration with researchers from the National Safety Laboratory of the National Center for Public Health, were the first to investigate the structure of an active infectious coronavirus. The team, led by Miklós Kellermayer, dean of the Semmelweis University School of General Medicine, scanned the surface of the SARS-COV-2 particles using an atomic force microscope. In their study, they write

the crowns that cover the virus like corona are extremely mobile and the organism is particularly resistant: its shape is easily compressed, but recovers like a rubber ball, and the physical impact does not damage its structure or its content.

According to Kellermayer, these properties may contribute to the virus’s ability to adapt to its environment, and this may contribute to speaking of a highly contagious pathogen.

Since scientific studies so far have been conducted with chemically treated, frozen or inactivated viruses, the work of the Hungarian scientists is unique.

[Ezt művelte 18 nap alatt egy magyar beteg tüdejével a koronavírus]

During the study, the Hungarian research team punctured the SARS-CoV-2 particle, which is approximately 80 nanometers wide, with an even smaller needle. The virus was compressed 100 times and then the needle was removed as many times. It turned out that its structure was hardly damaged. According to the researchers, this all means that

SARS-CoV-2 may be one of the most resistant and physically resistant viruses known to man.

The experts also analyzed the virus’s resistance to heat. It turned out: a lot. When heated to 90 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes, the virus remains almost intact, losing only some of its beaks. This may explain why it can survive in hot climate countries.

And if they were spikes: the researchers counted 61 in the virus they were studying, far more than scientists observed at Cambridge University (24) or in German experiments (40). All this means that the structure of the virus can be much more variable than previously thought.

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