To study duration of viral clearance in COVID 19 patients: A Prospective study from Bangalore, India

Rajoli, Swetha Hanbe Rajanna Avinash Yadav Sumesh

Background: COVID-19 infection, which first reported as a cluster of pneumonia from Wuhan, China, in December 2019, has rapidly emerged as a global pandemic. During the early course of the pandemic. The duration of infectious virus replication is an important factor for clinicians. There is a significant correlation between the duration of SARS-CoV-2 virus clearance and the prognosis of COVID-19. Aims and Objective: To study Duration of viral clearance in COVID 19 patients, admitted in an Indian setting. Materials and Methods: The prospective single-center study considered adults patients of both the gender, diagnosed with COVID-19 infection by RT-PCR technique. Necessary demographic and clinical data were collected and selected subjects were followed-up until discharge or death. Based on the number of days required for viral clearance, the subjects were classified as: group 1: = 14 days, group 2: 15-28 days, and group 3:>28 days. Results: The study included 536 patients it was found that mean duration required for viral clearance was around 8.98±3.54. Mean ages noted for group1, 2 and 3(based on viral clearance) were 37.57±13.65 years, 37.12±13.73 years and 49.50±23.56 years respectively. There was a significant difference between mean age of group 1 and 2, as well as group 1 and 3. Moreover, the distribution of patients across different age group was found to be statistically significant (P<0.05). Significant difference was noted between three groups with respect to the comorbidity status (P<0.0001). The COVID-related symptoms dyspnea and cough were more prominent in group 3 (P<0.05). TLC which is statistically significant (p<0.05), lower the TLC more the duration of viral clearance and more the duration of hospital stay. Conclusion: The mean days of viral clearance noted in COVID subjects is around 8.98±3.54 days. There was a significant difference between mean age of group 1 and 2, as well as group 1 and 3. However, there is no statistically significant correlation between duration of hospital stay and inflammatory markers except TLC which is statistically significant (p<0.05), lower the TLC more the duration of viral clearance and more the duration of hospital stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Asian Journal of Medical Sciences is the property of Manipal Colleges of Medical Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)