einstein (São Paulo). 25/Nov/2021;19:eRC6369.
Long term persistence of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection
João Renato Rebello Pinho
, Ketti Gleyzer de Oliveira
, Roberta Sitnik
, Maira Marranghello Maluf
, Pedro Henrique Sebe Rodrigues
, Rúbia Anita Ferraz Santana
, Eliane Rosseto Welter
, Ophir Irony
DOI: 10.31744/einstein_journal/2021RC6369
ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a case of a long-term persistence of SARS-CoV-2 infection (from March 26 to May 20, 2020) was identified at a private hospital in São Paulo, SP, Brazil. The long-term positivity for SARS-CoV-2 in reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction tests of a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 suggests, at least part of patients who recovered, may still carry and transmit the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This fact emphasizes the importance of having at least two negative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction test results for SARS-CoV-2. Serological assays were not particularly helpful in the case described, since the patient had very low antibodies titers at the end of the follow-up period. Low viral loads may not be detected by current molecular methods, leading to wrong conclusions regarding viral clearance.
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