Viral Determinants of Acute COVID-19 Symptoms in a Nonhospitalized Adult Population in the Pre-Omicron Era.
Open Forum Infect Dis
; 10(8): ofad396, 2023 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37636517
ABSTRACT
Background:
The influence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA level and presence of infectious virus on symptom occurrence is poorly understood, particularly among nonhospitalized individuals.Methods:
The study included 85 nonhospitalized, symptomatic adults, who were enrolled from September 2020 to November 2021. Data from a longitudinal cohort studied over 28 days was used to analyze the association of individual symptoms with SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA load, or the presence or level of infectious (culturable) virus. Presence of infectious virus and viral RNA load were assessed daily, depending on specimen availability, and amount of infectious virus was assessed on the day of maximum RNA load. Participants were surveyed for the start and end dates of 31 symptoms at enrollment and at days 9, 14, 21, and 28; daily symptom presence was determined analytically. We describe symptoms and investigate their possible association with viral determinants through a series of single or pooled (multiple days across acute period) cross-sectional analyses.Results:
There was an association between viral RNA load and the same-day presence of many individual symptoms. Additionally, individuals with infectious virus were more than three times as likely to have a concurrent fever than individuals without infectious virus, and more than two times as likely to have concurrent myalgia, chills, headache, or sore throat.Conclusions:
We found evidence to support the association of viral RNA load and infectious virus on some, but not all symptoms. Fever was most strongly associated with the presence of infectious virus; this may support the potential for symptom-based isolation guidance for COVID-19.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
Open Forum Infect Dis
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Estados Unidos
Country of publication:
EEUU
/
ESTADOS UNIDOS
/
ESTADOS UNIDOS DA AMERICA
/
EUA
/
UNITED STATES
/
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
/
US
/
USA