A medical biologist on why the coronavirus might leave some hospitalized and others unaffected
Under the microscope. Photo: Science VU/Getty Images/Visuals Unlimited As researchers try to understand why some people infected with COVID-19 experience mild or nonexistent symptoms while others require hospitalization, one factor they have considered is the “viral load” — the amount of the virus detected in a patient. “The viral load is a measure of how bright the fire is burning in an individual,” Edward Parker of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told New Scientist.
In these papers, they did longitudinal studies. They followed people over the course of time. As you can imagine, if the viral load goes up and then it goes back down, the test result depends on when you are measuring. We can’t say, “This person walked into the doctor and had this viral load and that means they’re going to have severe disease.” Because the meaning of the viral load also depends on when in the disease process you’re testing.
Those studies are “preprints,” meaning that they have not yet undergone scientific peer review and are not officially published. For the paper from Italy, I don’t think the authors are making a case for lack of correlation of viral load with symptoms — they simply show a great degree of variability in viral load for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, so it’s difficult to conclude anything either way.
Did The Lancet studies distinguish between a viral load that is a measure of the virus’s replication in a patient and the infectious dose, i.e. the patient’s exposure?
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