Tissue analyses from autopsies of 44 patients who passed away with COVID-19 reveal that SAR-CoV-2 virus propagated widely all through the body, notably the brain, and persisted for over eight months. Nature has reported on the findings. Extracted samples from autopsies conducted between April 2020 and March 2021 were analyzed by NIH researchers. In 11 of the patients, they took significant brain and other nervous system samples.
All patients had COVID-19 and died, and none had been vaccinated against it. Thirty-eight individuals had SARS-CoV-2 detected in their blood plasma, whereas 3 patients tested negative and 3 patients’ plasma was unsuitable for testing.
Among the patients, almost a third were women, with a median age of 62 and a range from 62.5 to 67. A number of 27 patients (61.4% of the total) had 3 or more comorbidities. It took 18.5 days, on average, from the first sign of illness to the time of death.
As was predicted, SARS-CoV-2 largely infected and destroyed airway and lung tissue, according to the analysis. On the other hand, the researchers identified viral RNA from a patient’s body fluids and 84 different anatomical sites 230 days after the onset of symptoms.
The hypothalamus and cerebellum of one patient, as well as the spinal cord and basal ganglia of two others, were all shown to have SARS-CoV-2 RNA and protein. Despite a high viral load, they saw very minimal damage in brain tissue.
A wide variety of non-respiratory organs, such as brain, heart, lymph nodes, gastrointestinal tract, adrenal gland, and eye, were also shown to have live SARS-CoV-2 virus by the researchers. They were able to successfully culture the virus from 25 of the 55 samples they examined (45%). The discovery of widespread viral presence, which was first reported a year ago to colleagues, has allowed researchers to investigate the link between widespread infection and “long COVID”.
