The viral loads in infections from the Delta variant were found to be ~1000 times higher than in earlier strains when the virus was first detected.
A new study based on months of data collection has found out that the Delta variant doesn’t just spread at a much faster rate but also grows much more rapidly inside your body.
Estimated to be spreading about 225 percent faster than the strain that was behind the first outbreak of COVID-19. Delta variant is currently the dominant virus in most new outbreaks globally.
The new study, publish on Wednesday, July 7, attempts to explain why the Delta variant is causing so much havoc globally. Researchers at the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that the variant grows at a much faster rate in the respiratory tracts of infected people.
Delta variant replicates to a much higher viral load too. The study found people infected with the delta variant had a viral load around 1,000 times more than infections from the original COVID-19 strain.
Furthermore, the study reveals that a person carrying the delta variant is likely to become infectious much sooner than infections from earlier strains. While the viral load became detectable with the original virus after around 6 days, the study found the delta variant reaching the levels in just 4 days.
The study
Scientists analyzed patients from the first delta variant outbreak of COVID-19 in China, sampling cases between May 21 and June 18 in Guangzhou. It investigated the “epidemiological, genetic, and serological data from this well-traced outbreak to characterize the virological profile of the Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant and discuss how the intervention strategies need to be improved on the racing against this emerging variant.”
Viral loads from 62 patients of the Delta variant outbreak were compared with 63 patients infected in 2020 with the earlier strain.
The findings suggest, as per the scientists, that people infected by the Delta variants become spreaders much earlier. The study concluded, the viral loads in the Delta infections were ~1000 times higher than those in the earlier 19A/19B strain infections on the day when viruses were firstly detected
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 "Delta variant infections show 1,000 times higher viral load than original COVID-19 strain, says study")
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