08 Aug 2022
Setting it Straight: Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 and Long COVID - Looking at a post-mortem series
From the early days of COVID-19, it’s been clear – from sequential PCR checked by gene sequencing – that a few people can be long-term ‘carriers ‘of (at least) SARS-CoV-2 RNA. A 2020 study from Wuhan identified 38 individuals (mostly aged 65+), from 50,000 hospitalised patients, and found viral RNA in oral swabs and sputum for 92 (58-118) days. Held under observation at the Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital, 29 of the 38 were asymptomatic and eight others had relatively mild symptoms, with all showing evidence of viral pneumonia in chest CT scans. Since then, with the regular replacement of SARS-CoV-2 variants by more recently evolving strains, it’s become obvious that any such potential ‘carriers’ are not playing a significant part in maintaining SARS-CoV-2 in nature.