Servadei Francesca, Mauriello Silvestro, Scimeca Manuel, Caggiano Bartolo, Ciotti Marco, Anemona Lucia, Montanaro Manuela, Giacobbi Erica, Treglia Michele, Bernardini Sergio, Marsella Luigi Tonino, Urbano Nicoletta, Schillaci Orazio, Mauriello Alessandro
Anatomic Pathology, Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy.
Forensic Medicine, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy.
Microorganisms. 2021 Apr 10;9(4):800. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9040800.
The aim of this study was to investigate the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in post-mortem swabs of subjects who died from SARS-CoV-2 infection. The presence of the virus was evaluated post-mortem from airways of 27 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients at three different time points (T1 2 h; T2 12 h; T3 24 h) by real-time PCR. Detection of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 was performed by Maglumi 2019-nCoV IgM/IgG chemiluminescence assay. SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA was still detectable in 70.3% of cases within 2 h after death and in 66,6% of cases up to 24 h after death. Our data showed an increase of the viral load in 78,6% of positive individuals 24 h post-mortem (T3) in comparison to that evaluated 2 h after death (T1). Noteworthy, we detected a positive T3 post-mortem swab (24 h after death) from 4 subjects who were negative at T1 (2 h after death). The results of our study may have an important value in the management of deceased subjects not only with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, but also for unspecified causes and in the absence of clinical documentation or medical assistance.
本研究旨在调查死于新型冠状病毒肺炎（SARS-CoV-2）感染的受试者尸检拭子中SARS-CoV-2的持续存在情况。通过实时聚合酶链反应（PCR）在三个不同时间点（T1为死亡后2小时；T2为死亡后12小时；T3为死亡后24小时）对27例SARS-CoV-2阳性患者气道进行尸检，评估病毒的存在情况。采用磁珠法2019-nCoV IgM/IgG化学发光法检测SARS-CoV-2抗体。死亡后2小时内，70.3%的病例中仍可检测到SARS-CoV-2病毒核糖核酸（RNA），死亡后24小时内这一比例为66.6%。我们的数据显示，与死亡后2小时（T1）评估的病毒载量相比，78.6%的阳性个体在死亡后24小时（T3）病毒载量增加。值得注意的是，我们从4名在T1（死亡后2小时）呈阴性的受试者中检测到T3尸检拭子（死亡后24小时）呈阳性。我们的研究结果不仅对疑似或确诊SARS-CoV-2的已故受试者的管理具有重要价值，而且对死因不明且无临床记录或医疗救助的情况也具有重要价值。
