ArticlePLoS pathogens2023
Viral burden is associated with age, vaccination, and viral variant in a population-representative study of SARS-CoV-2 that accounts for time-since-infection-related sampling bias.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Quantitative analysis of massive SARS-CoV-2 testing in the community in France in 2021-2022 reveals the associations of variant, vaccination, and age with viral dynamics in symptomatic individuals.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Nowcasting epidemic trends using hospital- and community-based virologic test data.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Cycle threshold values and SARS-CoV-2 variant associations with breakthrough infections: a retrospective study in Accra, Ghana.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Integrated Analysis of the 2022 SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Lineage Replacement Dynamics in Connecticut, US.Viruses · 2025Article
- Viral load dynamics in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients during Omicron BA.2 outbreak in Shanghai, China, 2022: A longitudinal cohort study.Virologica Sinica · 2024Article
- Genome-wide association study between SARS-CoV-2 single nucleotide polymorphisms and virus copies during infections.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
- Article
- Lineage replacement and evolution captured by 3 years of the United Kingdom Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
34 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
In this study, we evaluated the impact of viral variant, in addition to other variables, on within-host viral burden, by analysing cycle threshold (Ct) values derived from nose and throat swabs, collected as part of the UK COVID-19 Infection Survey. Because viral burden distributions determined from community survey data can be biased due to the impact of variant epidemiology on the time-since-infection of samples, we developed a method to explicitly adjust observed Ct value distributions to account for the expected bias. By analysing the adjusted Ct values using partial least squares regression, we found that among unvaccinated individuals with no known prior exposure, viral burden was 44% lower among Alpha variant infections, compared to those with the predecessor strain, B.1.177. Vaccination reduced viral burden by 67%, and among vaccinated individuals, viral burden was 286% higher among Delta variant, compared to Alpha variant, infections. In addition, viral burden increased by 17% for every 10-year age increment of the infected individual. In summary, within-host viral burden increases with age, is reduced by vaccination, and is influenced by the interplay of vaccination status and viral variant.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.