London: Differences in the natural temperature of the upper and lower respiratory tracts affect the replication of new coronaviruses and the subsequent activation of the immune system. This information is revealed in a new study that may help in the development of new remedial and preventive measures against Covid-19.
The study, published in the journal PLOS Biology, assessed the growth of the new coronavirus SARS-COV-2 and the activation of cellular mechanisms of resistance mechanisms. In this research, scientists, including researchers at the University of Bern, Switzerland, compared the pathways of the new coronavirus infection to the 2002-03 SARS-COV pandemic virus in a specialized cell system simulating the respiratory tract.
Ronald Dijkman of the University of Bern, co-author of the study, said, “SARS COV-2 and SARS COV have genetic similarities, displaying similar traits to viral proteins and similar receptors to infect human cells.” Let’s use. However, despite these similarities, there are several important differences between the two. “
Scientists said that while the character of the 2002-03 pandemic virus was the severity of the disease and inflammation in the lower respiratory tract, SARS COV-2 preferentially affects the upper airways, including the nasal cavity and respiratory tract. According to the researchers, people infected with the SARS virus were contagious only after the onset of symptoms, so it was easy to block their identity and link to the infection, while the new coronavirus was easily accessible from person to person before symptoms of the disease appeared. goes from.
Scientists used specialized respiratory cells of humans to find out the effect of respiratory tract temperature on replication of SARS-COV and SARS COV-2. They found that temperature has an important role in the replication of the SARS COV-2 virus and prefers to replicate in the upper airways near a temperature of about 33 ° C.
When researchers created colder conditions, they found that the virus replicated much faster than when scientists had created conditions corresponding to the lower part of the lungs at a temperature of 37 ° C. He said that, unlike the new coronavirus, the effect of different temperatures on the replication of SARS-COV was not seen.
Dijkman stated, “Because the strength of the resistance mechanism is directly affected by the replication of the virus, it may help to explain why SARS-COV-2 replicates more actively at lower temperatures.”
