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A recent study by researchers at Harvard and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), among others, may help explain why some people become super-spreaders.
The results of the study show that increasing age and elevated body mass index (BMI) were clearly associated with higher amounts of water droplets (aerosols) on exhalation. It is these drops from the respiratory tract that constitute the main route of transmission of the coronavirus.
The study also shows that corona infection itself increases the number of drops that pass through the airways. It is published in the renowned scientific journal Pnas.
158 arrested at the “super spreader party”
– Strange
Of the 194 healthy people in the study, 35 of them, or 18%, accounted for up to 80% of the total number of water drops recorded.
Therefore, the researchers claim that if these people were infected with the coronavirus, they would have a significantly greater risk of being able to become so-called super-spreaders.
The study shows that there was a 1000-fold difference between people who had the fewest and most water droplets in their breath. Anne Spurkland thinks this is sensational. She is an immunologist and professor of anatomy at the University of Oslo.
EXPERT: immunologist and professor of anatomy at the University of Oslo, Anne Spurkland. Photo: UiO.
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– You might think that there was a great similarity in the number of drops on exhalation between people of the same age, but this study shows that this is not necessarily the case, says Spurkland.
– So some spread more particles than others. The study shows that, among other things, it is the size of the body that decides, and that is a bit strange, because the lungs do not increase in size if you gain weight, he says.
He was afraid of being infected in the White House.
– It can get infected faster
Spurkland believes that people who release more drops on exhalation will also be more prone to more serious infections, should they become infected. Those who release more drops into the airways will also put more drops into the lungs along with the inhaled air.
This can cause viral infections to spread faster through the airways, he says.
– They generate many more droplets higher up in the respiratory tract. When they are released more easily, it will also be easier for them to enter. Then they will also carry the virus to the lungs faster. It will be transported there and infect new cells there, he explains.
In addition to the observational cohort study in humans, the researchers also conducted experiments on eight corona-infected monkeys. The stronger the infection among the monkeys, the more water droplets and viruses come out through their breath.
Therefore, the researchers also conclude that corona infection itself may contribute to further spread of the drops.
