Two prolonged viremic SARS-CoV-2 infections with conserved viral genome for two months

Laith J Abu-Raddad; Hiam Chemaitelly; Joel A Malek; Ayeda A Ahmed; Yasmin A Mohamoud; Shameem Younuskunju; Zaina Al Kanaani; Abdullatif Al Khal; Einas Al Kuwari; Adeel A Butt; Peter Coyle; Andrew Jeremijenko; Anvar Hassan Kaleeckal; Ali Nizar Latif; Riyazuddin Mohammad Shaik; Hanan F Abdul Rahim; Hadi M Yassine; Mohamed G Al Kuwari; Hamad Eid Al Romaihi; Mohamed H Al-Thani; Roberto Bertollini

doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104684

Two prolonged viremic SARS-CoV-2 infections with conserved viral genome for two months

Infect Genet Evol. 2021 Mar:88:104684. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104684. Epub 2020 Dec 24.

Authors

Laith J Abu-Raddad¹, Hiam Chemaitelly², Joel A Malek³, Ayeda A Ahmed⁴, Yasmin A Mohamoud⁴, Shameem Younuskunju⁴, Zaina Al Kanaani⁵, Abdullatif Al Khal⁵, Einas Al Kuwari⁵, Adeel A Butt⁵, Peter Coyle⁵, Andrew Jeremijenko⁵, Anvar Hassan Kaleeckal⁵, Ali Nizar Latif⁵, Riyazuddin Mohammad Shaik⁵, Hanan F Abdul Rahim⁶, Hadi M Yassine⁷, Mohamed G Al Kuwari⁸, Hamad Eid Al Romaihi⁹, Mohamed H Al-Thani⁹, Roberto Bertollini⁹

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Doha, Qatar; World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Disease Epidemiology Analytics on HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Viral Hepatitis, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation - Education City, Doha, Qatar; Department of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, NY, New York, USA. Electronic address: lja2002@qatar-med.cornell.edu.
² Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Doha, Qatar; World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Disease Epidemiology Analytics on HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Viral Hepatitis, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation - Education City, Doha, Qatar.
³ Genomics Laboratory, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Doha, Qatar; Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Doha, Qatar.
⁴ Genomics Laboratory, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Doha, Qatar.
⁵ Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
⁶ College of Health Sciences, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
⁷ Biomedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
⁸ Primary Health Care Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
⁹ Ministry of Public Health, Doha, Qatar.

Abstract

We document two cases of viremic and prolonged active infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) where the viral genome was conserved for two months, but infection was with little or no symptoms. The first infection persisted for 80 days and the second for 62 days. Clearance of infection occurred 40 and 41 days, respectively, after development of detectable antibodies. Both cases were identified incidentally in an investigation of reinfection in a cohort of 133,266 laboratory-confirmed infected persons.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemiology; Genome; Infection; Infectious period; SARS-CoV-2.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Adult
Antibodies, Viral / blood*
Asymptomatic Diseases
COVID-19 / diagnosis
COVID-19 / immunology*
COVID-19 / virology
COVID-19 Testing
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
Genome, Viral*
Humans
Infectious Disease Incubation Period
Male
RNA, Viral / blood*
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
SARS-CoV-2 / genetics*
SARS-CoV-2 / growth & development
SARS-CoV-2 / immunology
Time Factors
Viremia / diagnosis
Viremia / immunology*
Viremia / virology

Substances

Antibodies, Viral
RNA, Viral