Serologic studies of persons with COVID-19 infection

National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is associated with respiratory-related disease and death. Assays to detect virus-specific antibodies are important to understand the prevalence of infection and the course of the immune response. Assays to detect virus-specific T cells are important to appreciate the role of T cell in controlling COVID-19, and HLA-matched virus-specific T cells might be used to treat immunocompromised persons with this disease and to accelerate virus clearance in these persons to reduce shedding and transmission. COVID-19 causes multi-organ dysfunction during acute infection and some patients have prolonged symptoms. However, detection of the virus that causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) outside the respiratory tract has not been well studied. In FY2023 we collaborated with several groups and found that SARS-CoV-2 RNA was widely distributed in the body in patients who died with severe COVID-19, and that virus replication was present in multiple respiratory and non-respiratory tissues, including the brain, early in infection. In addition, persistent SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found at low levels in multiple sites as late as 230 days following symptom onset in patients who died from infection. These results indicate that in some patients SARS-CoV-2 can cause systemic infection and persist in the body for months.