In the most comprehensive autopsy tissue study ever conducted, researchers found traces of the SARS-CoV-2 virus throughout the body, from the brain and heart to the eyes. Findings show that the virus causes persistent infections in many parts of the body and can persist months after initial illness, making it a potential treatment for long-term COVID. It supports the argument that antiviral drugs need further research.
Three years after the emergence of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, scientists are still working to understand exactly how the virus interacts with the human body. One of the ongoing mysteries is how SARS-CoV-2 crosses the respiratory system and infects various organs.
For example, several studies have come to different conclusions about whether the neurological effects of COVID are due to a virus that directly infects brain tissue. Most recently, a team at Stanford University School of Medicine closely analyzed postmortem brain tissue samples from several of her COVID patients and found no trace of viral RNA.
Meanwhile, that study detected important inflammatory biomarkers, leading to the hypothesis that short- and long-term neurological symptoms may be due to sustained immune system activity. The hypothesis is supported by subsequent autopsy studies that found neuroinflammation in COVID patients.
The new study, led by scientists at the National Institutes of Health in collaboration with the University of Maryland, autopsied 44 patients who died from or died of COVID-19. The study focused on harvesting tissue from different locations in the body soon after death.
“By focusing on a short post-mortem interval, a comprehensive standardized approach to tissue collection, brain dissection before fixation, preserving tissue with RNA afterward, and rapid freezing of fresh tissue, SARS- We were able to detect and quantify CoV-2 RNA levels with high sensitivity using ddPCR. [polymerase chain reaction] and ISH [in situ hybridization]”In addition to isolating the virus in cell culture from multiple non-respiratory tissues, including brain, this is a striking difference compared to other studies,” the researchers wrote in the new study.
Findings revealed that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be detected in 84 different locations in the body. Tissues with the highest viral RNA load were respiratory tract and lung, but virus was also detected in brain, gut, heart, kidney, eye, adrenal glands, and lymph nodes.
Tissues tested were taken from patients at several different stages of infection, from early stages of infection (less than 14 days after onset of symptoms) to 9 months after acute illness. Not surprisingly, the highest viral loads were found in patients in the early stages of infection, but 14 of the 27 patients who crossed the 2-week mark had at least one non-respiratory tract analyzed. of the organization showed the presence of the virus.
The results of this study are certainly impressive, but it is still unclear what they mean. All patients included in the study were elderly, unvaccinated, necropsied in the first year of the pandemic, and suffering from many comorbidities. It is unknown whether it spreads through young people vaccinated with
Nonetheless, what the study clearly shows is the potential for SARS-CoV-2 to spread through tissues throughout the body, including the brain. I am asking if I can play a role in
The research team’s next step is to collect post-mortem tissue from long-dead COVID patients to understand whether the virus can be found months after acute illness. It’s part of a larger project called
In parallel with histopathology studies, the RECOVER project is conducting a clinical trial testing the efficacy of the antiviral drug Paxlovid in treating long-term COVID patients. The hypothesis is that if persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection in certain parts of the body caused her long COVID symptoms, trying to clear the virus with antiviral drugs should ameliorate those symptoms. is that
Paxlovid’s long-term COVID trial is expected to begin this year, and the RECOVER project is expected to run for up to four years.
A new study was published in Nature.
Source: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
