Lopinavir/ritonavir did not shorten the duration of SARS CoV-2 shedding in patients with mild pneumonia in Taiwan

Abstract

An increase of Ct values was 0.9 per day in 2 cases of COVID-19 treated with lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r), an increase was 1.0 per day in 3 cases without LPV/r through illness day 1-10, indicating that LPV/r did not shorten the duration of SARS CoV-2 shedding.

Keywords: COVID-19; Lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r); SARS CoV-2; Shedding.

Figure 1

Chest CT findings, without intravenous contrast, of the five study cases with COVID-19. Panel A (case 1) shows small areas of ground glass (arrows) in the peripheral zones of the lower lobes of the bilateral lungs on illness day 28 (before discharge). Panel B (case 2) shows patchy ground glass infiltrates (arrows) in the right upper lung on illness day 24. Panel C (case 3) shows multiple patchy ground glass infiltrates (arrows) in the bilateral lung on illness day 25. Panel D (case 4) shows a few patchy ground glass infiltrates (arrows) in the bilateral lungs on illness day 25. Panel E (case 5) shows normal finding in the bilateral lungs on day 32. CT scans were performed after at least two consecutive tests were negative in these 5 cases.

Figure 2

Viral loads detected in oropharyngeal swabs and sputum samples obtained from the five patients with COVID-19. Panel A shows the cycle threshold (Ct) values obtained by RT-PCR assays using primers and probes targeting the E gene and sputum samples from the four cases. Panel B shows the Ct values obtained using oropharyngeal swabs. Case 1 received LPV/r since illness day 5–8, and case 2 received LPV/r since illness day 2–14. Panel C shows the ratios of the Ct values for sputum and oropharyngeal swab samples, and for 67.5% (27/40) of the samples, the ratios were less than or equal to one.