Duration and key determinants of infectious virus shedding in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)

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Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number267
JournalNature Communications
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Jan 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Role of the funding source. This work partially was funded through EU COVID-19 grant RECOVER 101003589. The study sponsors were involved neither in the study design, the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data, writing of the report, nor in the decision to submit the paper for publication. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Research programs

  • EMC MM-04-54-08-A

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