Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32815036›Full record

ArticleVirchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology2021

Post-mortem viral dynamics and tropism in COVID-19 patients in correlation with organ damage.

Kristijan Skok, Evelyn Stelzl, Michael Trauner, Harald H Kessler, Sigurd F Lax

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
63citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
2.4field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

63 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 116 citations in OpenAlex.

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  20. The pathogenesis of coronavirus-19 disease.Journal of biomedical science · 2022
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3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Kristijan SkokDepartment of Pathology, Hospital Graz II, Academic Teaching Hospital of the Medical University of Graz, Goestingerstrasse 22, AT-8020, Graz, Austria.
Evelyn StelzlDiagnostic & Research Institute of Hygiene, Microbiology and Environmental Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Neue Stiftingtalstrasse 6, AT-8010, Graz, Austria.
Michael TraunerDivision of Gastroenterology and Hepatology with Intensive Care 13H1, Department of Internal Medicine III, Vienna General Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringerguertel 18-20, AT-1090, Vienna, Austria.
Harald H KesslerDiagnostic & Research Institute of Hygiene, Microbiology and Environmental Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Neue Stiftingtalstrasse 6, AT-8010, Graz, Austria.
Sigurd F LaxDepartment of Pathology, Hospital Graz II, Academic Teaching Hospital of the Medical University of Graz, Goestingerstrasse 22, AT-8020, Graz, Austria. sigurd.lax@kages.at.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3576-601X
Medical University of Graz · ATJohannes Kepler University of Linz · ATVienna General Hospital · AT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The persistence of SARS-CoV-2 after death of infected individuals is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in different organs in correlation with tissue damage and post-mortem viral dynamics in COVID-19 deceased. Twenty-eight patients (17 males, 11 females; age 66-96 years; mean 82.9, median 82.5 years) diagnosed with COVID-19 were studied. Swabs were taken post-mortem during autopsy (N = 19) from the throat, both lungs, intestine, gallbladder, and brain or without autopsy (N = 9) only from the throat. Selective amplification of target nucleic acid from the samples was achieved by using primers for ORF1a/b non-structural region and the structural protein envelope E-gene of the virus. The results of 125 post-mortem and 47 ante-mortem swabs were presented as cycle threshold (Ct) values and categorized as strong, moderate, and weak. Viral RNA was detected more frequently in the lungs and throat than in the intestine. Blood, bile, and the brain were negative. Consecutive throat swabs were positive up to 128 h after death without significant increase of Ct values. All lungs showed diffuse alveolar damage, thrombosis, and infarction and less frequently bronchopneumonia irrespective of Ct values. In 30% the intestine revealed focal ischemic changes. Nucleocapsid protein of SARS-CoV-2 was detected by immunohistochemistry in bronchial and intestinal epithelium, bronchial glands, and pneumocytes. In conclusion, viral RNA is still present several days after death, most frequently in the respiratory tract and associated with severe and fatal organ damage. Potential infectivity cannot be ruled out post-mortem.

Indexed as

Viral TropismAgedAged, 80 and overAutopsyCOVID-19FemaleHumansImmunohistochemistryMaleProspective StudiesRNA, ViralSARS-CoV-2Severity of Illness IndexRNA, ViralCOVID-19Immunohistochemistry bowelPCRPost-mortemSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID32815036
PMCPMC7438212
OpenAlexW3080525543

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.