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Super carriers are people who infect with the coronavirus much more often than others. The key issue here is to emit more aerosols – it is through them that COVID-19 is transmitted to healthy people. Scientists are familiar with the list of factors that make some patients more “contagious” than others.
- Superbugs emit more aerosols and are able to infect more people
- In the case of COVID-19, the virus is transmitted primarily by droplets, i.e. through aerosols
- Scientists have identified three factors that increase the likelihood that this particular person will become a Super Carrier. One of them is body weight
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Guilds super spreaders of COVID-19
Research on COVID-19 super-carriers appeared in January 2021 in the scientific journal of the American National Academy of Sciences. Based on the analysis of exhaled aerosols, researchers identified three factors that play a key role in the transmission of the coronavirus. It turns out that among the most ‘infectious’ patients, specific features dominate: they are elderly, with a high body mass index (BMI) and a strong COVID-19 infection.
- Check also: How does the body of “super carriers” spread the coronavirus?
The researchers’ analyzes looked at particles in aerosols exhaled by humans, but also by monkeys that could be infected with COVID-19. In total, 194 people and eight monkeys of different species participated in the study. On this basis, it was possible to assess that the weight, age and course of the disease play a key role in the transmission of the coronavirus. Young people of a healthy weight who are mildly infected with COVID-19 do not pose a serious epidemic threat. This does not mean, however, that they do not infect at all. However, it is less likely that they will pass the disease on to several dozen people.
Who are the COVID-19 super-carriers?
Super-carriers are people who are in a significant minority and infect disproportionately more than others. This phenomenon affects all infectious diseases – not only COVID-19. History knows cases where asymptomatic patients transmitted viruses or bacteria to even several dozen people.
- Also read: Who is the most effective at spreading COVID-19?
In the case of coronavirus, scientists from the US National Academy of Sciences suggest that we may be dealing here with a pandemic caused by super-carriers, where 18 percent. infected is responsible for 80 percent. diagnosed cases of COVID-19.
Such percentages were already reported in 9 in the context of the SARS virus, which is twin similar to COVID-2011. It was then that an article by Richard Albert Stein of Princeton University was published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. The scientist found that, according to the Pareto principle (i.e. 20/80) used in economics, there is a small percentage of people who have transferred the SARS virus to a large group of people. According to the Pareto principle, what is little can have greater effects than what is much. And while this is an economic theory, Stein believes it is also reflected in the transmission of infectious diseases. Few of the super-carriers unknowingly fuel the pandemic.
How is COVID-19 virus transmitted?
Coronavirus is transmitted primarily by airborne droplets. This is why it is recommended to cover the mouth and nose – to prevent the spread of aerosols containing pathogenic particles. According to scientists, super-carriers do not have to sneeze or cough on healthy people to infect them with the disease. It is enough for them to just speak or breathe. This is especially important with the Delta variant, which now dominates the world. Scientists have established that people no longer need to have direct contact to become infected. It is enough for them to pass each other on the street or visit the room itself within a few minutes.
Theoretically, the greater chances of infection with COVID-19 or another infectious disease are when the patient speaks loudly or exerts his breathing, for example while running or exercising at the gym. However, research published by the US National Academy of Sciences suggests that in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, contact with super-carriers and their breath is much more dangerous for the environment.
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