Thanks to studies of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infections in humans and monkeys, an international research team led by Israeli scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Sciences has been able to estimate the combined weight of all viral particles of the pandemic pathogen circulating in the world so that it has been revealed how much all the coronavirus present in the world weighs.
How much does all the coronavirus present in the world weigh?
According to the response given by scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Sciences, if all the particles of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus currently circulating in infected humans were taken and grouped on a scale, the resulting mass would mark a weight between 0.1 kilograms (one hectogram) and 10 kilograms , that is, the weight that could exist between a peach and an adult dog of the beagle breed.
The total weight of the virions of the pandemic pathogen could be just a simple curiosity, however this calculation was obtained through the analysis of significant information, such as the viral load of each patient and the distribution of viral particles within the different tissues of the organism human.
The determination of the “global” burden of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has been calculated by the international research team led by Israeli scientists from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Rehovot, who collaborated closely with colleagues. of the Department of Molecular Genetics, the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub in San Francisco (United States), the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering and the Department of Physics of the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) in Pasadena . To arrive at the estimate of how much the coronavirus weighs, the scientists, coordinated by Professor Ron Milo, started from the weight of a single virus particle (virion) of the coronavirus , equal to a single femtogram, which is equivalent to one millionth of a billionth of gram. In numerical factors it is expressed as 10 raised to – 15 (grams).
How the weight of the coronavirus has been calculated
To calculate the concentration of virus present in a single person , Professor Milo and his colleagues used the results of previous research in reshus macaques, in which the amount of viral particles present in various organs (from the lungs to the human system) was measured. digestive) at the peak of infection . Taking into account the viral concentration in each gram of monkey tissue and in relation to the weight of human organs, the scientists determined that at the peak of infection, a human carries between 10 and 100 billion viral particles of the coronavirus in its body, with a total weight of the “viral mass” between 1 microgram (one millionth of a gram) and 10 micrograms.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic there have been 174 million (official) infections and it is believed that each day there are between 1 and 10 million “active” infected, according to the interactive map prepared by scientists at Johns Hopkins University The scientists were able to calculate the estimated total weight of the circulating SARS-CoV-2 viral particles, which varies between 100 grams and 10 kilograms. This also takes into account the large difference in the concentration of viral particles found in people, which can vary between 5 and 6 orders of magnitude between those with low viral load and high viral load.
Details of the research were published in the authoritative scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ( PNAS ).
