#Coronavirus research updates: The nose could be the body’s entry point to infection
►https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00502-w
The nose is the probable starting point for #COVID-19 infections.
Richard Boucher and Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and their colleagues tracked the ease with which the new coronavirus infects various cell types in the respiratory tract. The researchers found a gradient of infectivity that decreases from the upper to the lower respiratory tract: the most easily infected cells are in the nasal cavity, and the least easily infected deep in the lungs. (Y. J. Hou et al. Cell ▻http://doi.org/dw2j; 2020). That gradient mapped neatly onto the distribution of cells that express ACE2, a protein that #SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter cells.
The authors speculate that the virus gets a foothold in the nose, then sneaks down the respiratory tract when breathed into the airways. They say the results support the use of masks and preventative measures such as nasal cleansing.