Low dose inocula of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant initiate more robust infections in the upper respiratory tract of hamsters than earlier D614G variants

  1. Bobo Wing-Yee Mok
  2. Honglian Liu
  3. Siu-Ying Lau
  4. Shaofeng Deng
  5. Siwen Liu
  6. Rachel Chun-Yee Tam
  7. Timothy Ting-Leung Ng
  8. Jake Siu-Lun Leung
  9. Pui Wang
  10. Kelvin Kai-Wang To
  11. Jasper Fuk-Woo Chan
  12. Kwok-Hung Chan
  13. Kwok-Yung Yuen
  14. Gilman Kit-Hang Siu
  15. Honglin Chen
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Abstract

There is a lack of experimental evidence to explain how the B.1.1.7 variant spreads more quickly than pre-existing variants in humans. We found that B.1.1.7 displays increased competitive fitness over earlier D614G lineages in an in-vitro system. Furthermore,, we demonstrated that B.1.1.7 variant is able to replicate and shed more efficiently in the nasal cavity than other variants with lower dose and shorter duration of exposure.

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