viral load

[ vahy-ruhl lohd ]

noun

, Pathology.

1. the amount or concentration of a virus in a given quantity of blood, saliva, mucus, or other bodily fluid, often expressed as the number of viral particles per milliliter of the fluid: The droplets from a flu-infected person’s sneeze leave their viral load on whatever surface they land on.

   When HIV treatment is effective, the viral load in the blood becomes undetectable.

   The droplets from a flu-infected person’s sneeze leave their viral load on whatever surface they land on.

viral load

/ vī′rəl /

1. The concentration of a virus, such as HIV, in the blood.

Word History and Origins

Origin of viral load¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Some of these new variants, like one from the UK, are more infectious and take a smaller viral load to cause a full body invasion.

From Quartz

If we can speed up vaccinations and get viral loads down, we can combat the spread.

From Washington Post

Those in the placebo group also had much higher viral loads, by about a 100-fold difference, and carried the virus for three to four times as long.

From Popular-Science

The lower the viral load an individual comes in contact with, the less sick they’re likely to get, Gandhi says.

From Popular-Science

If they were, they likely would have had sufficient viral load to infect others.

From Vox

Viral load can be reduced to undetectable levels, but it never goes away.

From The Daily Beast

The low viral load was a very unusual but not unheard-of finding, meaning we may never know the truth.

From The Daily Beast