Variable duration of viral shedding in cancer patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

N Esther Babady; Bevin Cohen; Tara McClure; Karin Chow; Mario Caldararo; Krupa Jani; Tracy McMillen; Ying Taur; Monika Shah; Elizabeth Robilotti; Anoshe Aslam; Mini Kamboj

doi:10.1017/ice.2021.378

Variable duration of viral shedding in cancer patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2022 Oct;43(10):1413-1415. doi: 10.1017/ice.2021.378. Epub 2021 Aug 27.

Authors

N Esther Babady^#¹, Bevin Cohen^#², Tara McClure³, Karin Chow³, Mario Caldararo⁴, Krupa Jani¹, Tracy McMillen¹, Ying Taur^{4

5}, Monika Shah^{4

5}, Elizabeth Robilotti^{3

4

5}, Anoshe Aslam³, Mini Kamboj^{3

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Microbiology Service, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.
² Center for Nursing Research and Innovation at The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York.
³ Infection Control Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.
⁴ Infectious Disease Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

In this retrospective study of 105 severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected cancer patients with longitudinal nasopharyngeal sampling, the duration of viral shedding and time to attain cycle threshold >30 was longer in patients with hematologic malignancy than in those with solid tumors. These findings have important public health implications.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cancer; SARS CoV-2; Viral shedding.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Neoplasms* / complications
RNA, Viral
Retrospective Studies
SARS-CoV-2
Virus Shedding

Substances

RNA, Viral

Grants and funding

P30 CA008748/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States