Differences in SARS-CoV-2 emission could account for why some individuals trigger superspreading events.
Testing shows that people who shed the most virus release nearly 60 times as much SARS-CoV-2 as those who shed the least. Credit: Indranil Aditya/NurPhoto via Getty
Daily testing at a university has revealed huge discrepancies in the infectiousness of people who test positive for SARS-CoV-2.
The researchers found substantial differences in the number of days for which the participants shed virus capable of infection: one participant excreted viable virus from their nose for nine days, whereas nine participants showed no detectable levels of infectious virus throughout the testing period. Modelling estimated that the most-infectious people shed more than 57 times more virus over the course of infection than did the least-infectious individuals.
Levels of viral RNA peaked several days earlier in saliva than in nasal samples, and became undetectable two to three weeks later.
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