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Case Reports
. 2021 Mar:88:104684.
doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104684. Epub 2020 Dec 24.

Two prolonged viremic SARS-CoV-2 infections with conserved viral genome for two months

Laith J Abu-Raddad  1 , Hiam Chemaitelly  2 , Joel A Malek  3 , Ayeda A Ahmed  4 , Yasmin A Mohamoud  4 , Shameem Younuskunju  4 , Zaina Al Kanaani  5 , Abdullatif Al Khal  5 , Einas Al Kuwari  5 , Adeel A Butt  5 , Peter Coyle  5 , Andrew Jeremijenko  5 , Anvar Hassan Kaleeckal  5 , Ali Nizar Latif  5 , Riyazuddin Mohammad Shaik  5 , Hanan F Abdul Rahim  6 , Hadi M Yassine  7 , Mohamed G Al Kuwari  8 , Hamad Eid Al Romaihi  9 , Mohamed H Al-Thani  9 , Roberto Bertollini  9
Affiliations
Case Reports

Two prolonged viremic SARS-CoV-2 infections with conserved viral genome for two months

Laith J Abu-Raddad et al. Infect Genet Evol. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

We document two cases of viremic and prolonged active infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) where the viral genome was conserved for two months, but infection was with little or no symptoms. The first infection persisted for 80 days and the second for 62 days. Clearance of infection occurred 40 and 41 days, respectively, after development of detectable antibodies. Both cases were identified incidentally in an investigation of reinfection in a cohort of 133,266 laboratory-confirmed infected persons.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemiology; Genome; Infection; Infectious period; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
History of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the two prolonged active-infection cases with high viral RNA concentration and conserved viral genome.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Viral genome sequencing analysis of the paired viral specimens of the first and last positive swabs for the two active-infection cases with high viral RNA concentration for two months.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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