Published on
Studies of COVID-19 from around the world are just starting to bear fruit. One, just published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, reveals that the salivary viral load of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is highest in the first week after symptom onset. While viral RNA was detected 25 days after symptoms onset in one patient, serum samples from 16 patients were negative at 14 days. Serial viral load was ascertained through reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 23 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from two Hong Kong hospitals in Hong Kong between January 22, 2020, and February 12, 2020.
Pandemic Update: Salivary Viral Load Peaks in the First Week After Symptom Onset