The viral load or quantity of SARS-CoV-2 in the nasal cavity does not predict disease severity, according to a recent JAMA Network Open study. The findings contradict those of earlier studies that found that patients with severe COVID-19 presentations tended to have a high viral load. “The findings of this study suggest that caution should be exercised in the use of individual-level viral load .
.. as a surrogate for COVID-19 severity, especially given increasing diversity in preexisting immunity,” the authors added.
“It’s our immune response that determines [disease] severity. So the vigor of our immune response is largely associated with the pneumonia that occurs,” Dr. Schaffner said.
SARS-CoV-2 infects the body in two phases. The first is when the virus attaches to the cells in the nasal cavity and the upper respiratory tract. Symptoms tend to be mild at this stage.
In the second phase, the virus reaches the lower respiratory tract and can start disseminating into the body. Some people’s immune systems may mount a highly inflammatory response to the virus, which can transform into severe disease; others may have mild or asymptomatic disease. “Being in a crowded area or near to someone who is infected would increase the likelihood of becoming infected,” Dr.
Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, told The Epoch Times. The authors said that the study’s findings are particularly relevant to the development of COV.