Surprising and Dangerous Property of Coronavirus Discovered

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has an unexpected property: the fewer symptoms a patient infected with COVID-19 exhibits, the more viral particles they release into the surrounding environment. In fact, the most dangerous patients are those who are asymptomatic carriers of the virus. Scientists believe this peculiar circumstance complicates efforts to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

An astonishing conclusion has been drawn in a scientific article published in the journal Infection. Researchers studied 60 patients hospitalized with a COVID-19 diagnosis. Among them, 15 individuals (25%) were asymptomatic carriers, while the others exhibited varying degrees of symptoms.

The researchers took samples of saliva, urine, blood, and feces from each participant. Additionally, swabs were taken from the nasopharynx and the oral cavity. Contrary to the researchers' expectations, the viral load was found to be highest in asymptomatic patients, lower in those with mild symptoms, and even lower in patients with severe symptoms. This is both surprising and concerning. Ultimately, it seems that the more the virus multiplies in the body, the greater damage it causes.

It is important to remember that the virus replicates at the expense of the resources of the host cell, and often this leads to the death of the cell. Of course, the data obtained needs to be verified on a larger number of patients. However, if confirmed, this could help explain why the pandemic is spreading so actively across the globe, despite all the measures taken by authorities and society.