1. Total and Subgenomic RNA Viral Load in Patients Infected With SARS-CoV-2 Alpha, Delta, and Omicron Variants.
- Author
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Dimcheff, Derek, Blair, Christopher, Zhu, Yuwei, Chappell, James, Gaglani, Manjusha, McNeal, Tresa, Ghamande, Shekhar, Steingrub, Jay, Shapiro, Nathan, Duggal, Abhijit, Busse, Laurence, Frosch, Anne, Peltan, Ithan, Hager, David, Gong, Michelle, Exline, Matthew, Khan, Akram, Wilson, Jennifer, Qadir, Nida, Ginde, Adit, Douin, David, Mohr, Nicholas, Mallow, Christopher, Martin, Emily, Johnson, Nicholas, Casey, Jonathan, Stubblefield, William, Gibbs, Kevin, Kwon, Jennie, Talbot, H, Halasa, Natasha, Grijalva, Carlos, Baughman, Adrienne, Womack, Kelsey, Hart, Kimberly, Swan, Sydney, Surie, Diya, Thornburg, Natalie, McMorrow, Meredith, Self, Wesley, and Lauring, Adam
- Subjects
SARS-CoV-2 ,subgenomic RNA ,variants of concern ,viral load ,Adult ,Humans ,SARS-CoV-2 ,Subgenomic RNA ,COVID-19 ,Viral Load ,RNA ,RNA ,Viral - Abstract
BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genomic and subgenomic RNA levels are frequently used as a correlate of infectiousness. The impact of host factors and SARS-CoV-2 lineage on RNA viral load is unclear. METHODS: Total nucleocapsid (N) and subgenomic N (sgN) RNA levels were measured by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in specimens from 3204 individuals hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at 21 hospitals. RT-qPCR cycle threshold (Ct) values were used to estimate RNA viral load. The impact of time of sampling, SARS-CoV-2 variant, age, comorbidities, vaccination, and immune status on N and sgN Ct values were evaluated using multiple linear regression. RESULTS: Mean Ct values at presentation for N were 24.14 (SD 4.53) for non-variants of concern, 25.15 (SD 4.33) for Alpha, 25.31 (SD 4.50) for Delta, and 26.26 (SD 4.42) for Omicron. N and sgN RNA levels varied with time since symptom onset and infecting variant but not with age, comorbidity, immune status, or vaccination. When normalized to total N RNA, sgN levels were similar across all variants. CONCLUSIONS: RNA viral loads were similar among hospitalized adults, irrespective of infecting variant and known risk factors for severe COVID-19. Total N and subgenomic RNA N viral loads were highly correlated, suggesting that subgenomic RNA measurements add little information for the purposes of estimating infectivity.
- Published
- 2023