Weak association of coinfection by SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses with severe cases and death

Fernandes-Matano, Larissa; Monroy-Muñoz, Irma Eloisa; Uribe-Noguez, Luis Antonio; Hernández-Cueto, María de los Angeles; Sarquiz-Martínez, Brenda; Pardavamp, Héctor Daniel; eacute-Alejandre,; Coy-Arechavaleta, Andrea Santos; Alvarado-Yaah, Julio Elias; Rojas-Mendoza, Teresita; Santacruz-Tinoco, Clara Esperanza; Grajales-Muñiz, Concepción; Borja-Aburto, Víctor Hugo; Muñoz-Medina, José Esteban

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus described for the first time in China in December 2019. This virus can cause a disease that ranges in spectrum from asymptomatic to severe respiratory disease with multiorgan failure, and the most severe cases are associated with some comorbidities and patient age. However, there are patients who do not have those risk factors who still develop serious disease. In this study, we identified the presence of other respiratory viruses in positive cases of COVID-19 in Mexico to determine if any coinfections were correlated with more severe manifestations of COVID-19. We analysed 103 confirmed cases of COVID-19 using RT-qPCR for the detection of 16 other respiratory viruses.Of the cases analysed, 14 (13.6%) were cases of coinfection, and 92% of them never required hospitalization, even when comorbidities and advanced age were involved. There were not significant differences between the presence of comorbidities and the mean ages of the groups. These results suggest that coinfection is not related to more severe COVID-19 and that, depending on the virus involved, it could even lead to a better prognosis. We believe that our findings may lay the groundwork for new studies aimed at determining the biological mechanism by which this phenomenon occurs and for proposing corresponding strategies to limit the progression to severe cases of COVID-19.