2021-01-11
Duration and key determinants of infectious virus shedding in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)
Publication
Publication
Nature Communications , Volume 12 - Issue 1
Key questions in COVID-19 are the duration and determinants of infectious virus shedding. Here, we report that infectious virus shedding is detected by virus cultures in 23 of the 129 patients (17.8%) hospitalized with COVID-19. The median duration of shedding infectious virus is 8 days post onset of symptoms (IQR 5–11) and drops below 5% after 15.2 days post onset of symptoms (95% confidence interval (CI) 13.4–17.2). Multivariate analyses identify viral loads above 7 log10 RNA copies/mL (odds ratio [OR] of 14.7 (CI 3.57-58.1; p < 0.001) as independently associated with isolation of infectious SARS-CoV-2 from the respiratory tract. A serum neutralizing antibody titre of at least 1:20 (OR of 0.01 (CI 0.003-0.08; p < 0.001) is independently associated with non-infectious SARS-CoV-2. We conclude that quantitative viral RNA load assays and serological assays could be used in test-based strategies to discontinue or de-escalate infection prevention and control precautions.
Additional Metadata | |
---|---|
doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20568-4, hdl.handle.net/1765/133456 | |
Nature Communications | |
Organisation | Department of Virology |
van Kampen, J., van de Vijver, D., Fraaij, P., Haagmans, B., Lamers, M. M., Okba, N., … Eijck, A. (2021). Duration and key determinants of infectious virus shedding in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Nature Communications, 12(1). doi:10.1038/s41467-020-20568-4 |