Abstract
In this study, we aimed investigate the relationship of SARS-CoV-2 viral load cycle threshold (Ct) values with pneumonia. A total of 158 patients in whom SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed in upper respiratory tract (URT) samples with molecular method and who had computed tomography (CT) of the chest, between April 2020 and June 2020 were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study. Mean age of 158 PCR positive patients was 45.22 ± 17.89 and 60.8% of them were male. Pneumonia was detected in 40.5% of the patients on their chest CT. A weak but significant correlation was found between SARS-CoV-2 Ct value detected with PCR in analysis of oropharyngeal/ nasopharyngeal (OP/NP) samples and chest CT score (Pearson's r: 0.197, p = 0.01). No correlation was found between the first detected viral load Ct value and age, gender and mortality. There was no significant correlation between chest CT score and mortality. While the areas remaining under ROC curve for Ct value in analysis of OP/NP samples in prediction of chest CT score ≥ 1, ≥ 5 and ≥ 10 were 0.564, 0.640 and 0.703 respectively. We found that the amount of SARS-CoV-2 viral load (inverse relationship with Ct) detected in OP/NP samples of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia did not reflect the increasing severity of pulmonary lesions on chest CT. Although primary target of SARS-CoV-2 is all epithelial cells of the respiratory tract we believe studies comparing viral loads in lower respiratory tract samples are needed to determine the severity of pulmonary disease.
Highlights
In this study, we aimed investigate the relationship of severe acute respiratory tract syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 viral load cycle threshold (Ct) values with pneumonia
The infection called severe acute respiratory tract infection 19 (COVID-19) that emerged in Wuhan, China in early December 2019 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 which is an enveloped positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus belonging to genus Betacoronavirus from Orthocoronavirinae subfamily of Coronaviridae family [4]
We aimed to investigate whether there is a correlation between the viral load level first detected in oropharyngeal/ nasopharyngeal (OP/NP) samples and the severity of pulmonary lesion determined in simultaneous chest computed tomography (CT) in PCRcomfirmed COVID-19 cases
Summary
We aimed investigate the relationship of SARS-CoV-2 viral load cycle threshold (Ct) values with pneumonia. A weak but significant correlation was found between SARS-CoV-2 Ct value detected with PCR in analysis of oropharyngeal/ nasopharyngeal (OP/NP) samples and chest CT score (Pearson’s r: 0.197, p = 0.01). Conclusions: We found that the amount of SARS-CoV-2 viral load (inverse relationship with Ct) detected in OP/NP samples of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia did not reflect the increasing severity of pulmonary lesions on chest CT. Two new HCoV types, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU1, were identified after SARS-CoV-associated outbreak called severe acute respiratory tract syndrome (SARS). The infection called severe acute respiratory tract infection 19 (COVID-19) that emerged in Wuhan, China in early December 2019 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 which is an enveloped positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus belonging to genus Betacoronavirus from Orthocoronavirinae subfamily of Coronaviridae family [4]. When the cases rapidly spread in China and in the rest of the world, COVID-19 was reported as an internationally significant public health
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