Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in lung tissue after mild COVID-19

Authors: Laurens J. Ceulemans, Mona Khan, Seung‐Jun Yoo, Bolek Zapiec, Laura Van Gerven, Jan Van Slambrouck, Arno Vanstapel, Dirk Van Raemdonck, Robin Vos, Els Wauters, Joost Wauters, Peter Carmeliet, Peter Mombaerts - The Lancet 2021 cited by 59

On Dec 1, 2020, we reported a successful case of double-lung transplantation from a SARS-CoV-2 seropositive donor 105 days after the onset of mild COVID-19.1 Although repeated quantitative (q)RT-PCR analyses of donor nasopharyngeal swabs were negative, this technique detected RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 N gene (delta Ct 35) from a biopsy of the right lung taken during organ procurement. Viral culture of this biopsy was negative and donor-to-recipient transmission did not occur. Complementary orthogonal methods were needed to corroborate and interpret the qRT-PCR results.