A study on how the coronavirus travels through the body has big implications on everything from wearing a mask to a potential vaccine.
Let’s connect the dots.
Coronavirus study on how it travels
The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill conducted the research, and what they found was COVID-19 likes the nose.
The findings suggest the virus tends to first infect the nasal cavity where it finds cells it likes for replicating. Then, in some cases, it travels further into the respiratory track where it does not replicate quite so easily but can still infect the lungs, leading to potentially fatal pneumonia.
Wear mask over nose
So what does this mean? First up, we should all be wearing masks and wearing them properly— that means over the nose. With so much coronavirus in the nasal passages covering the nose is the first line of defense.
Nasal vaccine better, but longer to make
It also means a vaccine given by a shot might not be the best approach, but instead a nasal vaccine would potentially be more effective.
According to the New York Times, there are several research teams in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands working on nasal coronavirus vaccines. But they are harder to develop and likely won’t be in the first round of vaccines that make it to the market.
MORE CORONAVIRUS RESEARCH