Thread by @Telegraph

🔴 What is viral load and why are so many health workers getting sick?

*THREAD* 👇

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Your viral load is simply how much virus you have in your body.

In medical terms, it refers to how much virus is measured in a standard volume of fluid, usually blood or plasma

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😷 But what does this mean for transmission of coronavirus?

The “infectious dose” is the amount of virus that an individual needs to be exposed to for them to pick up the virus.

In #Covid19, scientists don’t yet know how big a dose a person needs to be exposed to

🔬 With #Covid19, the dose is likely to be relatively small because of the high number of people becoming sick. The higher the dose, the sicker the patient will be.

Age and underlying conditions also have a role to play in disease severity and outcome

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👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ Health workers are at particularly high risk.

This is why doctors and nurses have been getting so angry about shortages of protective equipment.

However, low doses of the virus can also be harmful because of their cumulative effect

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A study of nine patients with mild symptoms found that their “peak shedding” period – that is when patients are most infectious – was within a week of first showing symptoms.

However, by day 10 they were unlikely to pass the disease on

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Protect yourself and your family by learning more about viral loads here 👇

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telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…