Viral Persistence

Lancet review of evidence for the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 as a driver of Long Covid, "Association of SARS-CoV-2 infection and persistence with long COVID".

University of British Columbia, May 2023

Comprehensive review of research, "Viral persistence, reactivation, and mechanisms of long COVID".

NIH RECOVER Mechanistic Pathways Task Force, April 2023

Autopsies of 44 patients in the US with prior confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 showed viral infection dispersed extensively throughout the body.

NIH, December 2021

Description goes hereSpike protein found circulating in the blood of long haulers, but not controls, 12 months post diagnosis.

Harvard, June 2022

4% of patients with COVID-19 shed fecal viral RNA 10 months after diagnosis. Presence of fecal SARS-CoV-2 RNA is associated with gastrointestinal symptoms.

Stanford, April 2022

SARS-CoV-2 persistent infection documented for 15 months in a single individual, involving extensive ongoing viral mutation mirroring mutations in the population at large.

University of Wisconsin-Madison, April 2022

Positive impact of Paxlovid in Long Covid patient.

Stanford, March 2022

Positive effect of Paxlovid on Long Covid: a case series

UCSF, May 2022

Distinguishing features of Long Covid identified through immune profiling

Yale, August 2022

SARS CoV-2 detected in neonatal stool remote from maternal COVID-19 during pregnancy.

Cornell, August 2022

Long COVID manifests with T cell dysregulation, inflammation, and an uncoordinated adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2

UCSF, February 2023

Persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection found in patients seemingly recovered from COVID-19

University of Trieste, January 2023

Viable SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sub-variants isolated from autopsy tissues

Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida (INBIRS), Universidad de Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 2023

Viral persistence found in the lungs over a year after infection

Cornell, November 2022

Ongoing loss of smell is associated with detectable viral particles

Institut Pasteur, May 2021

Active viral replication of SARS-CoV2 demonstrated in the lung 3 months after onset of the disease

Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Spain, January 2022

Successful virus isolation confirmed up to 128 days post infection. Complete SARS-CoV-2 genome integrity was demonstrated, suggesting the presence of replication-competent viruses.

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, November 2021

Virus found replicating in testes nearly a month after death - testes found to be viral reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 replication.

Viral persistence confirmed by autopsies, and found in the lungs and windpipe.

University Hospital of Zurich, February 2022

SARS-CoV-2 RNA found in the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with Long Covid.

Faculty Hospital Nové Zámky, Nové Zámky, Slovakia, October 2021

Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 positivity found in immunocompetent patients.

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, November 2021

SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in plasma, stool, and urine in patients with persistent symptoms.

Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, Spain, March 2022

SARS-CoV-2 identified in lymphoproliferative and ischaemic intestinal lesions of COVID-19 patients with acute abdominal pain.

Hospital Universitari Mútua Terrassa, Spain, August 2021

Sniffer dogs identify viral persistence in 23/45 Long Covid patients, and 0/180 healthy controls.

Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, January 2022

SARS-CoV-2 RNA detected in the lungs of patients with COVID-19 for many months

Mayo Clinic Rochester, March 2022

SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the gut mucosa ~7 months after mild acute COVID-19 in 32 of 46 patients with IBD. Viral nucleocapsid protein persisted in 24 of 46 patients in gut epithelium and CD8+ T cells. Expression of SARS-CoV-2 antigens was not detectable in stool and viral antigen persistence was unrelated to severity of acute COVID-19.

Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, 2022

Demonstrat[ing] the presence of the COVID-19 virus in the penis long after the initial infection in humans.

University of Miami, May 2021

Neural cells infected by SARS-CoV-2 shed shedding spike and nucleocapsid proteins; levels are significantly higher in Long Covid and higher in Long Covid with neuropsych problems.

UCSF, March 2022

SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in plasma, stool, and urine.

Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, Spain, March 2022

Persistent presence of spike protein and viral RNA in the circulation of Individuals with Long Covid

University of Kansas, August 2022

Persistent SARS-CoV-2 found in the saphenous veins of an asymptomatic patient

Kansai Medical University, Osaka, Japan, June 2022

Lingering SARS-CoV-2 in gastric and gallbladder tissues of patients with previous COVID-19 infection

Alexandria University, Egypt, November 2022

Viral compartmentalization in different tissue sites, and viral reservoir.

Harvard, February 2023

High SARS-CoV-2 tropism and activation of immune cells in the testes of non-vaccinated deceased COVID-19 patients

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil, February 2023

Liquid biomarkers of macrophage dysregulation and circulating spike protein illustrate the biological heterogeneity in patients with Long Covid

Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, September 2022

SARS-CoV-2 RNA found in the corneal epithelium

Johns Hopkins, March 2021

Immune abnormalities consistent with persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in the gut mucosa.

Inserm, Université Paris Cité, University of Minho, March 2023

600 person Swiss study showed long haulers typically failed to produce certain antibodies during acute infection.

University Hospital Zurich, January 2022

Long haulers more likely to have reactivated EBV at time of acute infection (i.e. increased immune burden / weakened immune response).

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, January 2022

Memory B cell response to SARS-CoV-2 evolves between 1.3 and 6.2 months after infection in a manner that is consistent with antigen persistence.

Rockefeller University, January 2021

MHC-I downregulation in cells infected with SARS-CoV-2: MHC-I downregulation is frequently associated with viruses that cause persistent infection.

Rockefeller University, May 2022

Intestinal mucosal abnormalities shed light on ‘viral persistence’ of long COVID-19.

Mount Sinai, May 2022

Pulmonary Long Covid is in part driven by inflammatory cytokines produced by activated virus-specific T cells, which are likely maintained by persistent virus.

University of Colorado, May 2022

Serum Level of anti-nucleocapsid, but not anti-spike antibody, is associated with improvement of Long COVID symptoms.

University of Pecs, Hungary, December 2021

Evasion mechanisms: SARS-CoV-2 non-structural protein 1 (Nsp1) mediates the downregulation of NKG2D ligands and transfection with Nsp1 alone is sufficient to confer resistance to NK cell killing.

Stanford, June 2022

Similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and feline coronaviruses, which persist chronically.

University of Milan, September 2020

Persistent infections contribute to Long Covid.

April 2021

Role of antivirals in treating chronic feline coronavirus infections.

October 2021

Primer on persistent RNA viruses.

Johns Hopkins, April 2017

Treatment of chronic SARS-CoV-2 infection in immunocompromised patients with antivirals.

University College London, May 2023