In Russia, the quarantine period for those infected with coronavirus was reduced to 7 days, in the United States, patients are required to self-isolate for 5 days and then adhere to a strict mask regimen for another 5 days. Scientists decided to find out if a ten-day period is enough for an infected person to stop being a danger to others. img src=”/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/13-bolevshih-covid-19-potencialno-zarazny-dolshe-10-dnej-issledovanie-88eab60.jpg” class=”img-fluid” alt=”13 % of COVID-19 patients are potentially contagious for longer than 10 days – study” /> 3499
The question of how long an infected person spreads a coronavirus has been of concern to scientists since the beginning of the pandemic. The largest review of 98 studies showed that the average duration of coronavirus RNA isolation is 17 days from the onset of symptoms in the upper respiratory tract, 14.6 days in the lower respiratory tract. However, none of the studies found live viruses in tissues or excretions 9 days after the onset of symptoms. Thus, viral load peaks in the first week of illness. However, these data were obtained even before the wide distribution of delta and omicron variants.
In a new study, biologists from the University of Exeter studied subgenomic RNA (sgRNA) and genomic sequences of the E gene in 176 people with confirmed coronavirus. Scientists noted that, unlike the PCR test, this research method allows distinguishing dead virus particles from living ones that continue to replicate.
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In 13% of participants, viral activity persisted for more than 10 days. Moreover, in isolated cases, clinically significant levels of viral particles were detected within 68 days. At the same time, patients who were potentially infectious for more than 10 days showed no signs of the disease. This means that people can feel completely healthy and still continue to spread the infection, the scientists noted.
Because these data were obtained before the widespread use of the omicron variant, the infection period may change upwards, the authors of the increase say .
“Omicron is much more contagious than the previous options; the number of viral particles required for infection may be significantly less. Therefore, it is possible that in a large number of people the amount of active virus may exceed the threshold of clinical significance,” the scientists said. /p>