UNASSIGNED: We observed infected patients since their first positive test during hospitalization. EB samples were collected on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12 and 14 of hospitalization using a filter-based device. After extraction, viral loads were quantified with qRT-PCR. The infection trajectory was documented after symptom onset.
UNASSIGNED: A 34-year old patient showed mild symptoms, e.g. fever, cough, headache, muscle pain and loss of taste and smell across trajectory of infection (Case 1). The viral loads emitted via exhaling were nearly constant and ranged from 8.6 x 103 and 4.1 x 104 RNA copies per hour. After the infection, the patient developed a pneumonia. The second case of a 65-year old patient depicted an asymptomatic infection trajectory for 14 days after the first diagnosis (Case 2). Nevertheless, the patient exhaled up to 2 x 105 SARS-CoV-2 virus copies hourly, approximately 10 fold higher than measured for Case 1.
UNASSIGNED: Symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients exhale distinctive amounts of SARS-CoV-2 not necessarily correlating with symptom severity. Particularly, asymptomatic patients might show higher EB viral shedding. Therefore, EB testing should be included in infection prevention measures as it has high potential to reveal the most infectious individuals regardless of their symptoms during infection.
■我们观察到感染患者在住院期间首次检测为阳性。使用基于过滤器的装置在住院的第1、3、5、7、10、12和14天收集EB样品。提取后,病毒载量用qRT-PCR定量。在症状发作后记录感染轨迹。
■一名34岁的患者出现轻微症状,例如发烧,咳嗽,头痛,肌肉疼痛和味觉和嗅觉在感染轨迹上的丧失(病例1)。通过呼气发出的病毒载量几乎是恒定的,范围为每小时8.6×103和4.1×104个RNA拷贝。感染后,病人患上了肺炎。第二例65岁患者描述了首次诊断后14天的无症状感染轨迹(病例2)。然而,患者每小时呼出2×105个SARS-CoV-2病毒拷贝,比案例1测量的高大约10倍。
有症状和无症状的COVID-19患者呼出不同数量的SARS-CoV-2不一定与症状严重程度相关。特别是,无症状患者可能表现出更高的EB病毒脱落。因此,EB检测应包括在感染预防措施中,因为它很有可能揭示最具传染性的个体,无论他们在感染期间的症状如何。