The SARS-CoV-2 virus lasts longer in the body of people with reduced immunity. This category of Russians, in whose bodies the coronavirus is emitted for the longest time, was named by TASS by Natalia Pshenichnaya, Deputy Director for Clinical and Analytical Work of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor.
She explained that after recovery, some people still have the genetic material of the coronavirus, but most often it is a non-viable virus. It can be secreted up to 90 days after the onset of the disease, but the time may vary depending on the rate of renewal of the epithelium of the upper respiratory tract. “In this regard, the danger of such a person to others is quite small, but nevertheless it still exists,” Pshenichnaya emphasized.
However, viable particles of coronavirus in patients with reduced immunity from COVID-19 can be released longer than in people with normal immunity, the expert warned. So, in the scientific journal Cell, an article was published describing such a clinical case. A viable virus was found in a woman with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acquired hypogammaglobulinemia 70 days after the diagnosis of COVID-19, and its genetic material persisted for up to 105 days.
An employee of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor added that it has not yet been established whether the dose of a viable virus secreted for a long time from recovering people with suppression of the immune response is sufficient to infect others. “Therefore, a recovered patient is considered safe for others today only after a negative PCR test for SARS-CoV2,” she concluded.
Earlier, the director of the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after Pasteur, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Areg Totolyan spoke about the population immunity of Russians: this indicator is growing. So, in different regions it ranges from 5.1 percent to 65.3 percent. At the same time, earlier this share was 4.3-50.2 percent. In addition, in five regions, an increase in the immune layer was recorded by 1.5-2 times.
