Infections with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant exhibit fourfold increased viral loads in the upper airways compared to Alpha or non-variants of concern.

ABSTRACT: There has been a growing body of evidence that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta variant (B.1.617.2) shows enhanced transmissibility and increased viral loads compared to other variants. A recent study has even suggested that respiratory samples from people infected with the Delta variant can harbor up to 1000 times higher viral loads compared to samples with variants that are more closely related to the original Wuhan strain, although the sample size of this study (n = 125) was very limited. Here, we have compared the viral load in 16,185 samples that were obtained in periods during which non-VOC, the Alpha (B.1.1.7) or Delta variant (B.1.617.2) were dominant as evidenced by genomic surveillance. We found that the Delta variant contained about fourfold

SUBMITTER: von Wintersdorff CJH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9382600 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature