May 10, 2021

Viable Virus Shedding during SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Transmission

Keywords (Tags): transmission

• Additional follow-up data from a prior prospective cohort study of young adults (18-20 years)  reinfected with SARS-CoV-2 after testing negative on three nasal swab PCR tests over a 2-week quarantine period found that viable virus was detected in 4 of 16 participants, and only once in each, with titers ranging from 1.7 to 5.5 log10 plaque-forming units per mL. All participants had detectable SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG at study enrollment, while none of the four who shed viable virus and only four of 12 who did not shed viable virus had detectable serum neutralization activity. Only one of the four who shed viable virus was symptomatic when viable virus was detected.

Letizia et al. (May 2021). Viable Virus Shedding during SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00219-8