Long persistence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 swab positivity in a drowned corpse: a case report

Journal of Medical Case Reports

Claudia Petrarca¹  Francesca Potenza²  Domitilla Mandatori²  Vincenzo De Laurenzi²  Liborio Stuppia²  Verena Damiani²  Angela Tartaglia³  Marcello Locatelli³  Pietro Falco⁴  Martina Bonelli⁵  Enrica Rosato⁵  Cristian D’Ovidio⁵ 

[1] Allergy and Immunotoxicology and Occupational Biorepository, Center for Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, 66100, Chieti, Italy;Center for Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, 66100, Chieti, Italy;Department of Pharmacy, University of Chieti-Pescara “G. d’Annunzio”, Via dei Vestini 31, 66100, Chieti, Italy;Division of Legal Medicine, SS. Annunziata Hospital, Chieti, Italy;Section of Legal Medicine, Center for Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, 66100, Chieti, Italy;

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    COVID-19;    Postmortem swab;    Postmortem positivity;    COVID-19 on drowned cadaver;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13256-022-03297-8

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundSince the beginning of the worldwide spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 to date, important knowledge has been obtained about the virus behavior in living subjects and on inanimate surfaces; however, there is still a lack of data on virus persistency on dead bodies and the risk of contagion from cadavers.Case presentationThe present case shows the persistency of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 viral genome in nasopharyngeal swabs performed on a drowned Caucasian man, aged 41 years old, who was completely asymptomatic when he was alive, up to 41 days after death. Specific real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (TaqMan 2019-nCoV Assay Kit v2; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Italy and Realquality RQ-SARS-CoV-2, AB Analytical) was used to evaluate the swabs.ConclusionsThis data reflect the importance of postmortem swabs in all autopsy cases, and not only in potential severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-related death, and also highlight the necessity to evaluate virus positivity a long time after the moment of death, even if a low initial viral load was assessed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY