The viral load of Delta variant is 1260 times the original COVID-19 strain

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The viral load of Delta variant is 1260 times the original COVID-19 strain

The viral load of Delta variant is 1260 times the original COVID-19 strain. Expert: Vaccines are playing a protective effect against severe illness, the most dangerous ones are those who have not been vaccinated

As countries around the world are gradually relaxing restrictions and preparing to restart the economy, the delta strain of the new coronavirus mutant virus has begun to spread rapidly around the world, leading to another increase in infection cases in many countries. Among them, some infected people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 before, which inevitably raises questions: Why do they still get infected after being vaccinated? Does the vaccine fail in the presence of the Delta strain?

In this regard, experts explained that the phenomenon of re-infection after vaccination is called “breakthrough infection.” The emergence of this phenomenon is not surprising, nor does it mean that the protective effect of the vaccine has failed.

They pointed out that there is a general misunderstanding about the COVID-19 vaccine, that is, “Once the vaccine is vaccinated, the COVID-19 virus will not pose any threat to their health.” But this is not the case. Carlos del Rio de Janeiro, deputy dean of the Emory University School of Medicine and an infectious disease expert, said that when the COVID-19 vaccine was first developed, it was not used to prevent infection. Its purpose was always to prevent severe and severe illness. die.

Previously, Shao Yiming, a researcher at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also explained related issues in an interview. Our current vaccine positioning is secondary prevention, and the protection rate is for the disease, not for the infection, so some people will get the vaccine after the vaccine. May be infected.

At the moment, experts from various countries have recently come forward to carry out science popularization and continue to emphasize that the protective effect of the COVID-19 vaccine against any severe infection caused by the COVID-19 virus strain is still very strong. The people who are facing the most dangerous situation today are still the unvaccinated people.

The viral load of Delta variant is 1260 times the original COVID-19 strain

Experts say that the main concern about the delta strain is not that it will cause illness, but that it is more likely to spread from person to person, leading to an increase in the number of infections and hospitalizations in unvaccinated groups.

The viral load of Delta variant is 1260 times the original COVID-19 strain

Delta mutation strain (picture from Hackensack Meridian Health)

According to a report in the journal Nature, on July 12, a group of researchers from the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China published a study on the medRxiv preprint platform. Follow-up analysis of 62 people infected with the Delta strain, and comparison with 63 patients infected with the COVID-19 virus in early 2020, found that the respiratory viral load of people infected with the Delta strain was 1,260 times that of those infected with the original strain. . This shows that the speed of self-replication of the Delta strain is very rapid.

In addition, people who carry the Delta strain may become infectious more quickly. Studies have pointed out that the early original strain can be detected in the human body for 6 days, while the Delta strain can be detected in only 4 days. found out.

The viral load of Delta variant is 1260 times the original COVID-19 strain

Benjamin Cowling, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong, China, explained in an interview with the journal Nature that the results of this study can explain why the Delta strain is so highly infectious—high viral load. It means that more people may be infected; the short incubation period means that the infected person may begin to spread the virus earlier.

On the 27th local time, Sharon Peacock, a professor of public health and microbiology at the University of Cambridge, UK, said in an interview that the biggest risk in the world is the delta strain. The most terrifying strain of the COVID-19 virus, which may subvert everyone’s “imagination” of the COVID-19 epidemic.

“(People) always have an illusion that there is a panacea that can solve all the problems we encounter. The COVID-19 virus has taught us a lesson.” Nadav Davidovich, Dean of the School of Public Health of Ben Gurion University in Israel, said with emotion road. These virologists and epidemiologists said that before getting more data on the spread of the delta strain, countries that have already carried out extensive vaccination may also need to wear masks, maintain social distancing and other protective measures again.

According to foreign media reports on the 27th, “breakthrough infection” cases have aroused strong public concern in the United States, but the latest data shows that such cases account for a very small proportion, and most severely ill patients infected with the Delta strain are People who have not been vaccinated.

On the 26th local time, U.S. media quoted an unpublished internal document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stating that as of last week, among more than 156 million Americans who had completed vaccination, there were approximately 153,000 cases of symptoms. “Breakthrough infection” cases accounted for about 0.098% of all vaccinated persons.

Matthew Ferrari, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research at Pennsylvania State University, said in an interview that the emergence of “breakthrough infection cases” was expected. He explained: “Some people who have been vaccinated will still be infected, and some people will still spread (the virus). Based on the base and ratio, the more people who are vaccinated, the more cases of breakthrough infection will of course be.”

Dr. John Brownstein of Boston Children’s Hospital in the United States also pointed out: “Although word-of-mouth cases and clusters of cases may cause people to worry about vaccines, in a larger context, that is, how many people have been vaccinated, As well as the proportion of infected cases in the unvaccinated population, we can see that the vaccine is working, and the real’breakthrough (infection)’ is very rare.”

Professor Ferrari said that overall, the risk of fully vaccinated people is much lower than that of unvaccinated people, and the current level of “breakthrough infection” cases is not enough to raise concerns about the effectiveness of existing vaccines. For example, in the United States, Delta strain infection accounts for about 83% of new infections, but nearly 97% of severely ill patients are unvaccinated people.

On July 22, Yang Yi, director of the Department of Critical Care Medicine, Zhongda Hospital Affiliated to Southeast University of China, said in an interview with the media that the current confirmed cases in Nanjing have basically been vaccinated, and the condition of the confirmed cases of COVID-19 pneumonia is generally stable. The symptoms are mainly mild and common, and the symptoms are not serious. “According to our observations in Guangdong and Ruili epidemics, in general, the vaccinated cases have relatively mild symptoms, and the probability of turning into a severe case is significantly lower, and the course of the disease is relatively short. So vaccination is still It has a protective effect.” Yang Yi concluded.

In Israel, which is the first to carry out mass vaccination, according to government data, with the spread of the delta strain, the effectiveness of Pfizer vaccine in preventing symptomatic infections in the past month has dropped to 41%. However, Israeli health officials pointed out that although 60% of the infected cases admitted to the hospital were vaccinated people, most of them were 60 years of age or older and had underlying health problems. Therefore, Israeli experts stated that more analysis of this information is needed before reaching a final conclusion.

(source:internet, reference only)

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