Comorbidities May Result in Longer Duration of Positive COVID-19 PCR Tests - Contagionlive.com

A recent study conducted by investigators from the Boston Medical Center has discovered that individuals with certain comorbid conditions who had an infection with COVID-19 may continue to receive positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results for the SARS-CoV-2 virus for a longer period of time compared to those without them.

"There are limited data on how long immunocompromised individuals continue to test positive for COVID-19 after initial infection," Rachel Epstein, a corresponding author on the study said.

"This study challenges whether the current recommendations to consider retesting severely immunocompromised individuals and use negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR test results to end isolation is necessary.".

For the study, the team of investigators analyzed data from 3,758 individuals who were retested using the SARS-CoV-2 PCR test following an initial positive result

Results from the study showed that median length of time for severely immunocompromised patients to receive a negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR test result was 22 days