Abstract
Objective. To assess the clinical and epidemiological significance of the viral load over time in patients with varying degrees of severity of COVID-19. Patients and methods. The observation group is represented by 586 patients hospitalized at the Infectious Diseases Hospital No 1 of the Moscow Department of Health with a initially verified diagnosis of COVID-19 during the period 2020–2021. The article presents data on the assessment of the viral load level in patients with COVID-19. A representative sample of inpatients hospitalized during the first waves of the pandemic in 2020–2021 was analyzed. The dynamics of the infectious process was studied basing on the following indicators: detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA by days of illness, determination of the threshold number of cycles in the PCR test (Ct), determination of SARS-CoV-2 viral load in genomic equivalents per 1 ml of sample (GE/ml). Results. Viral load in nasopharyngeal smears in the groups of observation was characterized by variability of values and high level of this indicator in patients with severe course of the disease: median Ctmax was 27.99 (2.83 × 105 GE/ml) exceeding similar indicators 1.97 times in patients with moderately severe course of the disease. Maintenance of stable viral load indicators in the course of the disease in the group of severely-ill patients by the end of the second week may indicate re-infection in the hospital. Conclusion. The results of the study can be used to substantiate the epidemiologic danger of a sick person in the course of the disease as a possible source of infection. Further studies are needed to assess the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus viability in patients in the course of the disease as an indicator of infectious activity of the virus. Key words: SARS-CoV-2, clinical and epidemiologic markers, viral load, COVID-19
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