Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

Re:Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/De... by nradov on Friday October 01, 2021 @01:35PM (#28721326)

There's no reliable evidence that healthcare workers wearing proper PPE are exposed to extremely large viral loads. Nor is there evidence that symptom severity depends on initial viral load (beyond some minimum threshold for infection). It's a plausible hypothesis but the human challenge trials necessary to prove or disprove it haven't been done yet.

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Re:Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/De... by kortex on Friday October 01, 2021 @04:03PM (#28722792)

> Nor is there evidence that symptom severity depends on initial viral load (beyond some minimum threshold for infection).

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19057-5

> It's a plausible hypothesis

It's extremely plausible, and been demonstrated before in influenza, poxviruses, and other viruses. The human challenge trials necessary to prove a dose-dependent relationship between fall height and lethality haven't been conducted, either, but we have sufficient evidence from longitudinal and natural experiments to draw firm conclusions.

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Re:Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/De... by nradov on Friday October 01, 2021 @05:17PM (#28723476)

That study you linked isn't relevant to my point. The question is whether the initial viral dose at the point of infection is correlated with symptom severity later in the disease course. That remains unknown. The study looked at the relation between current viral load and symptoms after infection, which is an entirely separate issue.

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