Version 1
: Received: 6 December 2022 / Approved: 12 December 2022 / Online: 12 December 2022 (09:04:59 CET)
How to cite:
Gregianini, T. S.; Baethgen, L. F.; Salvato, R. S.; Menegolla, I. A.; COVID-19 Team, C.; da Veiga, A. B. G. SARS-CoV-2 PCR Persistence and Duration of COVID-19 Symptoms in Health Professionals. Preprints2022, 2022120196. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202212.0196.v1
Gregianini, T. S.; Baethgen, L. F.; Salvato, R. S.; Menegolla, I. A.; COVID-19 Team, C.; da Veiga, A. B. G. SARS-CoV-2 PCR Persistence and Duration of COVID-19 Symptoms in Health Professionals. Preprints 2022, 2022120196. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202212.0196.v1
Gregianini, T. S.; Baethgen, L. F.; Salvato, R. S.; Menegolla, I. A.; COVID-19 Team, C.; da Veiga, A. B. G. SARS-CoV-2 PCR Persistence and Duration of COVID-19 Symptoms in Health Professionals. Preprints2022, 2022120196. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202212.0196.v1
APA Style
Gregianini, T. S., Baethgen, L. F., Salvato, R. S., Menegolla, I. A., COVID-19 Team, C., & da Veiga, A. B. G. (2022). SARS-CoV-2 PCR Persistence and Duration of COVID-19 Symptoms in Health Professionals. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202212.0196.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Gregianini, T. S., CEVS COVID-19 Team and Ana Beatriz Gorini da Veiga. 2022 "SARS-CoV-2 PCR Persistence and Duration of COVID-19 Symptoms in Health Professionals" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202212.0196.v1
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Most individuals infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms of COVID-19, which usually resolve after few days. Regardless of symptoms, infected people can transmit the virus to others especially on the first days of infection. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is used to confirm SARS-CoV-2 infection; some individuals show persistent PCR-positivity after recovering from COVID-19. In this study, 12 individuals who showed persistence of COVID-19 symptoms and of SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positivity were followed-up. Methods: nasopharyngeal samples were collected for SARS-CoV-2 detection by RT-qPCR; clinical and epidemiological data were analyzed. Results: that persistence of SARS-CoV-2 PCR positivity was associated with duration of symptoms (rs 0.81338), which varied between one and 49 days, with 75% of the individuals reporting symptoms for more than two weeks; 83.33% of cases remained positive after two weeks of onset of symptoms, despite decreases in viral load. Conclusion: neither RT-qPCR test nor a symptom-based approach alone are sufficient to evaluate discontinuation of patient isolation; other factors such as viral loads and symptom severity should also be considered. Additional studies are needed to understand how RT-PCR-positivity is related to symptoms and the risk of viral transmission, and to better support isolation guidelines.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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