Early on, virologists thought that the novel coronavirus would spread only slowly, in part due to the similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and the SARS coronavirus that appeared in China in 2002. From November 2002 and July 2003, almost 800 people died of the disease, the full name of which is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. But then, the epidemic disappeared. It was a stroke of luck for humanity: That pathogen appears to have been more deadly than SARS-CoV-2, but it focused its attentions on the lungs. The virus multiplied deep within the body, making it less contagious. Furthermore, it was easy to identify and isolate those who had fallen ill from the virus.
Experts initially hoped that the same would hold true of SARS-CoV-2, but they were mistaken. The novel coronavirus doesn’t just attack the lungs. Throat swabs from patients revealed early on that the pathogen first goes after the mucous membrane in the upper respiratory tract.
That is advantageous for the virus. The distance from one throat to another throat is much shorter than the distance from one person’s lung to another. “That means that those carrying the virus are highly contagious,” says Strassburg. A huge number of the viruses are found in the nasal cavity and pharynx, “even in people who aren’t yet experiencing symptoms,” he adds, “which is why the pathogen was able to circle the globe so quickly.”
There are three stages in the attack on the human body….
The coronavirus does much more damage to the human body than initially assumed. It can attack any number of organs and even penetrates the brain. But why do some people experience worse symptoms than others? https://t.co/yUFNxPBPg5
— SPIEGEL English (@SPIEGEL_English) May 15, 2020