Italy’s COVID-19 patients had lower viral load in May than April peak

MILAN: A new study has found that COVID-19 patients tested at a hospital in May had fewer virus particles than those tested a month earlier.

The researchers offered some theories for the lower viral load, including that lockdown measures may have reduced patients’ exposure to the virus, but their study did not provide evidence to explain their findings.

The doctor said that last month that the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy. Alberto Zangrillo, head of intensive care at Italy’s San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, said at the time that his comments would be reinforced by soon-to-be-published research co-led by fellow scientist Massimo Clementi.

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Instead, it looked for links between illness severity and the amount of virus – the viral load – in the patients. The researchers analyzed 200 nasopharyngeal swabs taken at the San Raffaele hospital. Half were from patients treated in April at the pandemic’s peak and half were from cases treated in May.

Viral loads were similar in men and women, but were higher in patients aged 60 and over, and in those with severe COVID-19.