Case Report: Prolonged Viral Shedding in Six COVID-19 Patients
Open Access
- 1 April 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
- Vol. 104 (4), 1472-1475
- https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0933
Abstract
COVID-19 has surfaced as a multi-organ disease predominantly affecting the respiratory system. Detection of the viral RNA through reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) from a nasopharyngeal or throat sample is the preferred method of diagnosis. Recent evidence has suggested that COVID-19 patients can shed the SARS-CoV-2 for several weeks. Herein, we report six cases of COVID-19 who had persistently positive SARS-CoV-2 on repeat RT-PCR testing reaching up to 9 weeks. The spectrum of cases described ranges from asymptomatic infection to severe COVID-19 pneumonia. A full understanding of the virus's transmission dynamics needs further research. Prolonged viral shedding currently has unclear implications on the management and isolation decisions-the role of the cycle threshold (Ct) value in guiding therapeutic decisions is yet to be clarified. More data on the relationship between Ct values and viral cultivation are needed, especially in patients with prolonged viral shedding, to understand the virus's viability and infectivity.This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit:
- Pilot Study: Long-Term Shedding of SARS-CoV-2 in Urine: A Threat for Dispersal in WastewaterFrontiers in Public Health, 2020
- Predicting Infectious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 From Diagnostic SamplesClinical Infectious Diseases, 2020
- Asymptomatic infection and atypical manifestations of COVID-19: Comparison of viral shedding durationJournal of Infection, 2020
- Data to guide the application of the new WHO criteria for releasing COVID-19 patients from isolationPharmacological Research, 2020
- Duration of SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA shedding and factors associated with prolonged viral shedding in patients with COVID‐19Journal of Medical Virology, 2020
- Genomic characterization of a novel SARS-CoV-2Gene Reports, 2020
- Viral load dynamics and disease severity in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Zhejiang province, China, January-March 2020: retrospective cohort studyBMJ, 2020
- Diabetes mellitus is associated with increased mortality and severity of disease in COVID-19 pneumonia – A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regressionDiabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 2020
- Factors Associated With Prolonged Viral RNA Shedding in Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2020
- Characteristics of and Important Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in ChinaJama-Journal Of The American Medical Association, 2020