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. 2021 Mar 3;11(3):427.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11030427.

Spatial and Temporal Virus Load Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: A Single-Center Cohort Study

Enagnon Kazali Alidjinou  1 , Julien Poissy  2 , Mahdi Ouafi  1 , Morgan Caplan  2 , Ilyes Benhalima  1 , Julien Goutay  2 , Claire Tinez  1 , Karine Faure  3 , Marie-Charlotte Chopin  3 , Cécile Yelnik  4 , Marc Lambert  4 , Didier Hober  1 , Sébastien Preau  2 ; The Lille COVID Research Network (LICORNE); Saad Nseir  2 , Ilka Engelmann  1
Collaborators, Affiliations

Spatial and Temporal Virus Load Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: A Single-Center Cohort Study

Enagnon Kazali Alidjinou et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused an ongoing pandemic. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the gold standard for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 and has been applied to different specimen types. Understanding the virus load and virus detection frequency in different specimen types is important to improve diagnosis and estimate the duration of potential infectivity. We conducted a retrospective single-center cohort study on hospitalized and outpatients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. We analyzed the frequency of virus detection, virus load, and duration of the virus excretion in upper and lower respiratory specimens as well as stool and plasma. We found that the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 detection, the virus load, and duration of virus excretion was higher in lower respiratory tract (LRT) than in upper respiratory tract (URT) specimens. The duration of virus excretion was longer in patients requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission. In conclusion, LRT specimens are the most appropriate specimen type for the detection and follow-up of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Duration of virus excretion is longer in severe cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Keywords: COVID-19; RT-PCR; SARS-CoV-2; molecular diagnostics; viral shedding.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Frequency of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection as a function of time after symptom onset.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlation of Ct values with time after symptom onset.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 virus load as a function of time after symptom onset.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Spatio-temporal SARS-CoV-2 virus load kinetics in individual patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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