All the world’s COVID-19 viruses may have a collective mass of 10kg

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-06-04 08:14

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When a person is infected with SARS-CoV-2, there may be anywhere from one billion to 100 billion virus particles present during peak infection, according to new estimates by Israeli and US researchers. This would add up to a mass of no more than 0.1 milligrams. The team says this estimate then implies that the total mass of all the virus particles currently in people around the world could range from 100g to 10 kilos.

Media release

From: PNAS

A study estimates that during peak infection with SARS-CoV-2 a person carries between 1 billion and 100 billion virions with a total mass of no more than 0.1 milligrams, suggesting that the sum of all virions currently found in human hosts may amount to an estimated mass ranging between 100 grams and 10 kilograms; additionally, the results suggest that the genetic diversity of virions in a single infected host likely covers all possible single nucleotide substitutions, according to the authors.

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Research PNAS, Web page

Journal/
conference: PNAS

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel; California Institute of Technology, USA; Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, USA

Funder: This research was supported by the European Research Council (Project NOVCARBFIX 646827), Israel Science Foundation (Grant 740/16), Beck-Canadian Center for Alternative Energy Research, Dana and Yossie Hollander, Ullmann Family Foundation, Helmsley Charitable Foundation, Larson Charitable Foundation, Wolfson Family Charitable Trust, Charles Rothschild, Selmo Nussenbaum, Miel de Botton (R.M.), the NIH (1R35 GM118043-01 [Maximizing Investigators' Research Award]) (R.P.), Merkin Institute for Translational Research (R.P.), the Israeli Council for Higher Education via the Weizmann Data Science Research Center, and by a research grant from Madame Olga Klein – Astrachan (R.S.). R.M. is the Charles and Louise Gartner Professional Chair. Y.M.B.-O. is an Azrieli Fellow.

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