How much does every SARS-CoV-2 in the world weigh?
According to a new study, if all SARS-CoV-2 particles currently circulating in humans around the world are collected in one place, their weight will be somewhere between the weights of apples and toddlers. ..  A group of researchers recently calculated that each infected individual carries approximately 10 to 100 billion SARS-CoV-2 particles at the peak of infection. This is all SARS-CoV-2 Virus It currently infects people around the world  it has consistently shown 1 to 10 million infections during the epidemic process. Pandemic  The total mass is between 0.22 and 22 pounds (0.1 to 10 kilograms). However, just because its small doesnt mean its trivial. From a leverage point of view, from a larger historical context, Atomic bomb Less than 100 kg [220 Ibs] Ron Milo, a professor of plant environment science at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and co-author Ron Milo, a PhD student in Miros lab, emailed Live. Said in. Science Nevertheless, look at the destruction brought about.  Relation: Quick Guide: COVID-19 Vaccine in Use and How It Works  Similarly, were talking about a very small mass of virus here, but theyre causing havoc in the world, they added. The virus currently infects more than 173 million people. , More than 3.7 million people have died. According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Dashboard .. Researchers are known to be susceptible to the virus at peak times of infection, using previous measurements obtained from rhesus monkeys to calculate how much virus each infected person has. We investigated how much SARS-CoV-2 was carried by various organizations. lung , Tonsils, lymph nodes and Digestive system They then estimated the number of viral particles in human tissue by multiplying the number of viral particles present per gram of rhesus tissue by the mass of human tissue. From previous calculations based on the diameter of the virus, they already knew that the mass of each virus particle was 1 femtogram (10 increased to minus 15 grams). Using the mass of each particle and the estimated number of particles, they calculated that each person had about 1 to 10 micrograms of virus particles at the peak of infection. By analyzing these numbers, the team was able to better understand what was happening in the body during the infection, such as the number of infected cells and the viral particles produced in the body. For example, comparing the number with the rate of evolution of the virus. They then calculated how many mutations the virus would collect on average during the course of one persons infection and across the entire population. To do this, they used previous estimates from similar coronaviruses to calculate how often a single nucleotide mutates, and then multiply it by the number of nucleotides in the SARS-CoV-2 genome. It took into account the number of times the virus made copies.In itself during infection  They found that during infection in a single host, the virus accumulated approximately 0.1 to 1 mutations throughout its genome. Given the 4-5 day time between infections, the virus collects about 3 mutations per month, consistent with the known rate of evolution of SARS-CoV-2. The researchers write that there is. However, they also found that the number of infected human viral particles varied widely. In fact, it can differ by 5-6 orders of magnitude. This means that some infected people may have millions of times more particles than others. We know that people with low viral load are actually less likely to infect others, Milo and Sender said. However, for biological reasons, such as the high viral load of superspreaders, or for sociological reasons, such as having many close encounters with people at large events held in closed spaces. Its not yet clear if they are spreading the virus more than others, they added. I hope this study starts new ideas and new experiments, they said. The findings were published in the journal on June 3rd. Proceedings of the American Academy of Sciences .. Initially published in Live Science.