[ad_1]
The English variant of the coronavirus is more insidious because it is easily transmitted even with one viral load lower. Attention, this does not mean that it implies a higher fatality rate, because there is no correspondence between high viral load and severity of the disease. This is demonstrated by the fact that in the areas of the United Kingdom where the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 there was no increase in the percentage of deaths over the total of positive cases. However, a problem remains: if the virus spreads faster, the number of infected people increases, and thus also the absolute number of hospitalizations and, sadly, deaths.
New Covid, sweep test: analysis on who arrived from London in December
English variant coronavirus, Rome ASL seeks London passengers
Because it is more contagious
Why is transmission of the English variant believed to be faster even with a low viral load? The chief physician of the Sacco Hospital in Milan states the following: Mauro viecca, who explained to the Agi: “Since the virus with the English variant is more contagious because less viral load is needed to transmit it, all the more it is necessary to use a mask. One of the amino acids that make up the Spike protein has changed, which we can imagine as a blockage that allows the virus to enter the lungs. In fact, this implies a greater speed of diffusion because a lower viral load is enough to infect a clinical picture that has remained completely unchanged.
To show that there is, however, a direct relationship between “high viral load” and “more serious disease”, the case of the 42-year-old woman, positive for Covid, comes to the rescue, who, according to the analysis of the Celio military hospital in Rome he is the first Italian patient infected with the new English variant. Well, a very high viral load was found, but at the same time the symptoms are very mild and she, an employee of the Italian secret services, is isolated at home.
This summer, however, mainly modest viral loads were detected in those infected in Italy, in the autumn the situation changed. But what is viral load? It can be summarized with this formula: it is the number of copies of Sars-CoV-2 genetic material present in one milliliter of biological material examined. So far the principle has been valid: high viral load, high contagion. But with the English variant now something has changed. The United Kingdom has registered 36 thousand cases in 24 hours in recent days and, according to experts, the transmission speed is between 70 and 80 percent higher after the mutation.
Last updated: 09:37
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
[ad_2]
