Persistence and clearance of SARS-CoV-2

Persistence and clearance of SARS-CoV-2. Heneghan C.

https://www.cebm.net/study/persistence-and-clearance-of-sars-cov-2/

Published on July 30, 2020

Reference	Ling Y, Xu SB, Lin YX, et al. Persitance and clearance of viral RNA in 2019 novel coronavirus disease rehabilitation patients. Chin Med J (Engl). 2020;133(9):1039-1043. doi:10.1097/CM9.0000000000000774
Study type
Country	China
Setting	Hospital
Funding Details	First-class university and first-class discipline building project of the Fudan University and the Scientific research for special subjects on 2019 novel coronavirus of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center.
Transmission mode	Orofecal
Exposures

Bottom Line

Clearance of viral RNA in patients’ stools was delayed compared to oropharyngeal swabs.

Evidence Summary

From 292 confirmed cases, 66 recovered patients were included, and 28 (42%) analyzed. By February 10th, 11 convalescent patients (17%) still tested positive for viral RNA from stool specimens – the other 55 patients’ stool specimens were negative following a median duration of 11.0 (9.0–16.0) days after symptom onset.

Duration of viral RNA detection from oropharyngeal swabs and fecal samples was longer in thos

What did they do?

From January 20, 2020, to February 10, 2020, all confirmed patients with COVID-19 in the Shanghai region were admitted to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center.

The clinical data and laboratory test results for patients admitted from January 20th to February 10th 2020 were collected retrospectively. RT-PCR results for patients’ oropharyngeal swab, stool, urine, and serum samples were collected and analysed

Study reliability

Clearly defined setting	Demographic characteristics described	Follow-up length was sufficient	Transmission outcomes assessed	Main biases are taken into consideration
Yes	Partly	Yes	Yes	No

About the authors

Carl Heneghan

Carl is Professor of EBM & Director of CEBM at the University of Oxford. He is also a GP and tweets @carlheneghan. He has an active interest in discovering the truth behind health research findings