ArticleCytopathology : official journal of the British Society for Clinical Cytology2021
SARS-CoV-2 RNA may rarely be present in a uterine cervix LBC sample at the asymptomatic early stage of COVID 19 disease.
Article in Cytopathology : official journal of the British Society for Clinical Cytology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Viral shedding of SARS-CoV-2 in body fluids associated with sexual activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2024Pooled it
- SARS-CoV-2 infection heightens the risk of developing HPV-related carcinoma in situ and cancer.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- The Mechanisms of Ferroptosis Under Hypoxia.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2023Review
- Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in COVID-19 infections among working-age women with precancerous cervical lesion in Louisiana: analysis of more than two years of COVID-19 data.Frontiers in epidemiology · 2023Article
- COVID-19 can lead to rapid progression of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia by dysregulating the immune system: A hypothesis.Journal of reproductive immunology · 2022Article
- SARS-CoV-2 RNA may rarely be present in a uterine cervix LBC sample at the asymptomatic early stage of COVID 19 disease.Cytopathology : official journal of the British Society for Clinical Cytology · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveCurrently, it is thought that uterine cervix mucosal samples present a low risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure. So far, there is no evidence of SARS-CoV-2 detection in Papanicolaou (Pap) smears. Nevertheless, clinicians could be exposed unaware to the coronavirus while performing and handling a Pap smear. We aimed to retrospectively evaluate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in cervical liquid-based cytology (LBC) samples in women who tested positive for a nasopharyngeal COVID-19 PCR test.
methodsFrom our laboratory database, we identified patients with data on a cervical cancer screening LBC sample paired with a positive nasopharyngeal COVID-19 PCR test. Relevant LBC samples taken within an incubation period of 14 days and post-onset RNA shedding interval of 25 days were subsequently tested for SARS-CoV-2 RNA using RT-PCR tests.
resultsThe study group consisted of 102 women. Of those, 23 LBC samples were tested. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in one LBC sample from a 26-year-old asymptomatic woman taken six days before reporting headaches and knee arthralgia with a positive nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test.
conclusionsIt is possible to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in cervical LBC samples at an early asymptomatic stage of COVID-19. In general, this finding is infrequent in asymptomatic women who tested SARS-CoV-2 positive within an incubation of 14 days and a post-onset RNA shedding period of 25 days. We fully support the current thinking that cervical LBC samples from asymptomatic women pose a low risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure and can be handled in the frame of good microbiological practice and procedures.
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