Medicine In the experiment, the corona was intentionally infected – just over half of the subjects became infected

In a unique way in a study in Britain, researchers deliberately infected the coronavirus with a group of volunteers.

Healthy young adults received a drop in their nose accompanied by a small dose of coronaviruses.

The amount of virus corresponded to that which would be in a droplet when a person is at its most contagious.

The experiment involved 34 volunteers who were followed up and tested in the isolation facilities of the Royal Free Hospital in London.

Eighteen subjects became infected, just over half.

Thus, a large part of the virus was not transmitted either because the amount of virus was small, or because their bouncing immune system did not allow the virus to settle in the body.

Cases can help determine why some are more prone to getting the disease and others are completely spared the infection.

Test allowed the course of the infection to be closely monitored because the researchers knew exactly when the infection had been acquired.

It turned out that the amount of virus was at its highest five days after infection. On average, viable virus was still found ten days after a dose of the virus was dropped into the nostril.

Most experienced mild to moderate symptoms such as nasal congestion, sore throat, muscle aches, and fever.

Symptoms peaked at viral load five days after infection. The sense of smell temporarily disappeared from many. For one, it was a little more than half a year later.

Two of the participants remained asymptomatic. However, in the tests, they had as much virus as they had the symptoms.

“Although these people had no symptoms at all, they produced an extreme amount of the virus. It explains the contagion of the virus and explains why the pandemic has spread so fast, ” comments In the article in Science Journal, the main author of the research Chris Chiu From Imperial College London.

In an experiment used a virus that was circulating in Britain a year ago when the study began.

The variants that have come to power since then would probably give a somewhat different picture of the course of infection and disease. Scientists are planning a similar experiment in the delta.

Infection trials were planned at the beginning of the pandemic. The idea would have been to find out the effectiveness of vaccines in a small number and to replace large population studies.

Some researchers believe the procedure could still test vaccines that have been developed to combat new variants.

The research is under evaluation Science Journal of the Nature Publication Group.

Published in Science 3/2022

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