Clinical illness with viable severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus presenting 72 days after infection in an immunocompromised patient

To the Editor—Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can result in prolonged polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positivity, particularly in the immunocompromised population.1–4 This prolonged positivity poses infection prevention and public health management issues because the inf...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Infection control and hospital epidemiology 2022-06, Vol.43 (6), p.820-822
Main Authors: Hughes, Carly M., Gregory, Gareth P., Pierce, Anna B., Druce, Julian D., Catton, Mike, Chong, Brian, Sherry, Norelle L., Graham, Maryza, Chen, Melissa, Salvaris, Ross, Eise, Nicole, Lee, Jean Y.H., McQuilten, Zoe, Crouch, Simon, Looker, Clare, Korman, Tony M., Stuart, Rhonda L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibodies
Asymptomatic
Clinical trials
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Disease transmission
Infections
Letter to the Editor
Pathogens
Polymerase chain reaction
Public health
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Viral infections
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To the Editor—Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can result in prolonged polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positivity, particularly in the immunocompromised population.1–4 This prolonged positivity poses infection prevention and public health management issues because the infectivity and transmission risks are unclear. The state of Victoria, Australia (population 6.4 million), experienced a second wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from June to October 2020.5 To combat it, public health measures were implemented that included (at most restrictive stage) mandatory mask use, limitations in travel to 5 km, no household visitors, limited outdoor activities, and night-time curfews. State and national clearance guidelines at the time required 2 negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests in those with significant immunocompromise.6,7 Virus was detectable on PCR at each time point, and Table 1 shows the cycle threshold (Ct) values for each episode of testing (timeline also represented in Fig. 1).
ISSN:0899-823X
1559-6834
DOI:10.1017/ice.2021.120