Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May;131(5):E1677-E1682.
doi: 10.1002/lary.29218. Epub 2020 Nov 19.

SARS-CoV-2 Presence in the Saliva, Tears, and Cerumen of COVID-19 Patients

Fatih M Hanege  1   2 , Esra Kocoglu  3 , Mahmut T Kalcioglu  1 , Serdal Celik  1 , Yasemin Cag  4 , Fehim Esen  5 , Eray Bayindir  1 , Sadrettin Pence  6 , Emine Alp Mese  7 , Canan Agalar  8
Affiliations

SARS-CoV-2 Presence in the Saliva, Tears, and Cerumen of COVID-19 Patients

Fatih M Hanege et al. Laryngoscope. 2021 May.

Abstract

Objectives/hypothesis: The emergence of a new coronavirus strain (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019 from China led to a global pandemic. The lack of herd immunity against this virus and the possibility of viral spread from asymptomatic individuals is still a major challenge for the prevention of viral transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of the virus in different bodily secretions as a potential source of viral spread among patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Study design: Cross Sectional Study.

Methods: The study included 38 COVID-19 patients with a positive real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result for SARS-CoV-2, obtained from the combined nasopharyngeal-oropharyngeal swab samples. Saliva, tear, and cerumen samples were taken from the patients within 72 hours of the first RT-PCR test. SARS-CoV-2 N1 and N2 gene regions were studied with single-step RT-PCR in all samples.

Results: Among the studied samples, the highest positivity rate was in saliva (76.3%) followed by tears (55.3%) and cerumen (39.5%). Viral load in saliva was also significantly higher compared to tears and cerumen (P < .001), while there was no significant difference between tears and cerumen. Higher viral load in combined nasopharyngeal-oropharyngeal swab samples was associated with higher viral load in tears, but not in saliva or cerumen. Half of the saliva, tear, and cerumen samples obtained from asymptomatic patients contained SARS-CoV-2 genome.

Conclusions: The virus was detected in the saliva, tears, and cerumen samples of both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The potential role of these bodily fluids on viral spread needs to be studied.

Level of evidence: 4 Laryngoscope, 131:E1677-E1682, 2021.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cerumen; saliva; tear.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

    1. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, et al. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med 2020;382:727-733. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2001017.
    1. Rubin EJ, Baden LR, Morrissey S, Campion EW. Medical journals and the 2019-nCoV outbreak. N Engl J Med 2020;382:866. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMe2001329.
    1. World Health Organization Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19. Available at: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-re.... Accessed March 11, 2020 [Internet]. [cited 2020 15].
    1. Chan JF-W, Yuan S, Kok K-H, et al. A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster. Lancet 2020;395:514-523.
    1. Han H, Luo Q, Mo F, Long L, Zheng W. SARS-CoV-2 RNA more readily detected in induced sputum than in throat swabs of convalescent COVID-19 patients. Lancet Infect Dis 2020;20:655-656. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30174-2.

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources