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Volume 27, Number 1—January 2021
Research Letter

Postmortem Stability of SARS-CoV-2 in Nasopharyngeal Mucosa

Fabian HeinrichComments to Author , Kira Meißner, Felicia Langenwalder, Klaus Püschel, Dominik Nörz, Armin Hoffmann, Marc Lütgehetmann, Martin Aepfelbacher, Eric Bibiza-Freiwald, Susanne Pfefferle, and Axel Heinemann
Author affiliation: University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

Main Article

Table

Basic clinical information about and autopsy findings of patients in a longitudinal follow-up cohort and for virus isolation, Department of Legal Medicine, Hamburg, Germany, 2020*

Patient no. Age, y/sex BMI, kg/m2 Main autopsy finding Disease duration, d Postmortem interval, h† Postmortem SARS-CoV-2 RNA load at admission, Ct‡
1§
 54/F
 29.6
 Pneumonia
 5
 11.92
 29.86
2§
 66/M
 25.3
 Pneumonia
 ND
 32.03
 24.22
3§
 63/M
 37.3
 Pulmonary embolism, pneumonia
 6
 5.03
 32.55
4§
 70/M
 22.2
 Pneumonia, bronchitis, respiratory failure
 6
 7.48
 18.97
5§
 52/M
 38.8
 Pulmonary embolism
 10
 5.32
 ND
6§
 90/F
 24.9
 Pneumonia, aspiration
 13
 19.35
 29.52
7§
 71/M
 ND
 Pneumonia, MODS
 ND
 7.87
 50
8§
 77/M
 33.2
 Pneumonia
 18
 5.08
 50
9§
 61/M
 32.3
 Intracerebral hemorrhage, pneumonia
 ND
 4.37
 ND
10§
 76/M
 37.7
 Pneumonia, MODS, endocarditis, leukemia
 ND
 2.85
 15.22
11§,¶
 59/F
 22.2
 Pneumonia, multiple myeloma
 18
 5.67
 18.55
12¶
 83/F
 26.0
 Pneumonia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma
 25
 6.83
 ND
13¶
 80/M
 28.5
 Pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, myelofibrosis
 12
 6.5
 ND
14¶
 71/F
 29.0
 Pneumonia, myelofibrosis
 25
 12.1
 ND
15¶
 84/F
 21.4
 Pneumonia
 ND
 35.75
 ND
16¶ 31/M 20.6 Pneumonia, germ cell tumor ND 9.08 ND

*Ct, cycle threshold; MODS, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome; ND, not determined; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

†Time of death until cooling at 4°C.

‡Negative results are reflected by Ct 50.

§Longitudinal cohort.

¶Virus isolation cohort (S. Pfefferle, unpub. data, https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.10.334458).

Main Article

Page created: December 16, 2020
Page updated: December 21, 2020
Page reviewed: December 21, 2020
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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