High SARS-CoV-2 loads tied to B117 variant, potential super-spreadersB117, a SARS-CoV-2 variant believed to have increased infectivity, is linked to high viral loads in COVID-19 patients in the United Kingdom, while a small number of patients with extremely high viral loads could have largely driven the second wave of the pandemic in Houston, according to two new studies in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.In the first study, a team led by researchers from Public Health England tested 641 respiratory samples collected from COVID-19 patients from Oct 25 to Nov 25, 2020, for B117 viral loads.
They found that those infected with the variant had up to 10,000-fold higher viral loads than those infected with other virus strains.The authors said