Dear Editor,An acute viral pneumonia(COVID-19),caused by the novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2,was first identified during December 2019 in China(Zhu et al.,2020).SARSCoV-2 was found to be highly transmissible in ...Dear Editor,An acute viral pneumonia(COVID-19),caused by the novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2,was first identified during December 2019 in China(Zhu et al.,2020).SARSCoV-2 was found to be highly transmissible in humans(Wang et al.,2020)and is now a pandemic spreading to over 140 countries and causing over 150,000 infections and 6,000 deaths as of March 15,2020.Diagnosis is critical for confirmation and treatment of COVID-19.Currently the primary criterion for diagnosis of COVID-19 is viral RNA detection for respiratory samples.Recently,two studies on virus loads in clinical samples reported that viral loads in nasal and throat swabs and sputum specimens peaked at 3–7 days after illness onset(d.a.o.)and virtually disappeared before 15 d.a.o.(Pan et al.,2020;Zou et al.,2020).Another study showed that the median duration of virus shedding in throat swabs was 20 d.a.o.in survivors and was detectable until death in non-survivors(Zhou et al.,2020).Additionally,live viruses have been isolated in the feces and urine samples of COVID-19 patients.However,the viral dynamics in these types of specimens has not yet been clearly elucidated,as well as comparative studies on virus shedding in the upper respiratory,intestinal,and urinary tracts.展开更多
基金the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)(XDB29010102 and XDA19090118)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(32041010)+2 种基金Hebei Key Research and Development Program(20277704D)Y.B.is supported by the NSFC Outstanding Young Scholars(31822055)Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS(2017122).
文摘Dear Editor,An acute viral pneumonia(COVID-19),caused by the novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2,was first identified during December 2019 in China(Zhu et al.,2020).SARSCoV-2 was found to be highly transmissible in humans(Wang et al.,2020)and is now a pandemic spreading to over 140 countries and causing over 150,000 infections and 6,000 deaths as of March 15,2020.Diagnosis is critical for confirmation and treatment of COVID-19.Currently the primary criterion for diagnosis of COVID-19 is viral RNA detection for respiratory samples.Recently,two studies on virus loads in clinical samples reported that viral loads in nasal and throat swabs and sputum specimens peaked at 3–7 days after illness onset(d.a.o.)and virtually disappeared before 15 d.a.o.(Pan et al.,2020;Zou et al.,2020).Another study showed that the median duration of virus shedding in throat swabs was 20 d.a.o.in survivors and was detectable until death in non-survivors(Zhou et al.,2020).Additionally,live viruses have been isolated in the feces and urine samples of COVID-19 patients.However,the viral dynamics in these types of specimens has not yet been clearly elucidated,as well as comparative studies on virus shedding in the upper respiratory,intestinal,and urinary tracts.
