Delta breakthrough infection: Fully vaccinated people probably highly contagious in the first few days

The delta variant causes a lot of concerns in the fight against the corona virus.

It spreads quickly and creates a high viral load in the body - regardless of the vaccination status.

Munich - First of all, the vaccination reduces the risk of infection from the coronavirus * and provides protection against a serious course of the disease, this has been undisputedly proven.

The Delta variant could still become a problem, figures from Public Health England (PHE), an agency that reports to the UK Ministry of Health, show.

Delta variant: high viral load, regardless of vaccination status

According to the

, vaccinated people who are infected with the Delta variant * probably have a similarly high viral load in the first days of the disease as unvaccinated people with COVID-19. Conversely, this means that people who have become infected with the delta variant are highly contagious - regardless of their vaccination status.

However, vaccination also has an advantage here: According to a study by the National Center for Infectious Diseases in Singapore, which is headed by the

, the viral load in vaccinated people drops quickly after a few days - unlike in unvaccinated people.

Nevertheless, the delta variant is causing rising corona numbers and high incidences * in many countries, and the mutant is already the most dominant in Germany.

Investigation of the viral load: Delta variant ensures high levels of infection

The viral load is examined with the help of so-called Ct values ​​- the lower the value, the higher the viral load.

The Ct value indicates how many cycles the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) needs before it can detect the virus gene in question.

If many attempts are not necessary, i.e. if the Ct value is small, the viral load is greater.

In the alpha variant, the Ct value of people who had been vaccinated twice was higher than that of those who were not vaccinated - the delta variant ensures a low Ct value, at least in the first few days, regardless of the vaccination status.

After all, there is currently no other variant that is spreading even faster, although the mutations continue steadily.

List of rubric lists: © Boris Roessler / dpa