"Virus 1000 Times"…Omicron's 'Super Transmission Power' Confirmed [Reading Science]

International Journal Nature Reports on US Research Team's Paper
"Some Patients Release 1000 Times More Virus Than Alpha and Delta Variants"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] A study has found that patients infected with the COVID-19 Omicron variant release up to 1,000 times more virus than previous variants, infecting more people.

According to the international academic journal Nature on the 19th, a joint research team from Colorado State University and the University of Maryland in the United States shared a paper containing these research results on the preprint site 'medRxiv' on the 29th of last month. The peer review process has not yet been completed, so it has not been objectively validated.

The research team recruited 93 patients infected with the Omicron, Delta, and Alpha variants from mid-2020 to early this year to investigate the amount of virus they emitted. Among them, those infected with the Delta and Omicron variants were individuals infected after completing vaccination.

The team had the participants face a cone-shaped device and sing and shout for 30 minutes. During this process, coughing and sneezing also occurred occasionally. The researchers collected and analyzed aerosol particles of 5 micrometers (μm) or smaller exhaled by the participants. These fine particles are small enough to penetrate cloth or surgical masks and cause infection.

The results confirmed that people infected with the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants release more virus than the original COVID-19 virus discovered in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019, or previous variants such as Gamma. In particular, a super-spreader infected with Omicron was observed to emit up to 1,000 times more virus than those infected with Alpha or Delta variants. Older individuals or those who coughed frequently tended to release more virus.

The research team also confirmed airborne transmissibility. When aerosol samples exhaled by participants were sprayed onto laboratory cells, four samples from Delta and Omicron infected individuals infected the cells.

Regarding these experimental results, the research team pointed out that governments worldwide need to invest more in improving indoor air quality and filtration systems to prevent COVID-19 infections. They also predicted that the virus will continue to evolve in a direction that increases its transmissibility.

Nature noted, "The amount of virus exhaled by COVID-19 infected patients is much less than that of influenza patients, a similar airborne infectious disease," adding, "This suggests that the COVID-19 virus could evolve into variants capable of transmitting even more virus in the future."