Below please find a summary and link(s) of new coronavirus-related content published today in Annals of Internal Medicine. The summary below is not intended to substitute for the full article as a source of information. A collection of coronavirus-related content is free to the public at http://go.annals.org/coronavirus.
SARS-CoV-2 RNA found in a healthy blood donor 40 days after resolution of symptoms
Asymptomatic donors infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may pose a risk to the safety of the blood supply. Researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine report the case of a volunteer blood donor who was healthy on the day of donation but had detectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels in their blood at least 40 days after resolution of COVID-19-like symptoms. The donor had symptoms of upper respiratory infection in early March, including body aches and sore throat without fever. The donor did not seek medical attention and was not tested for SARS-CoV-2 at that time. After the donor was notified about the results, and 5 days after the donation date, RT-PCR assay of the donor's nasopharyngeal swab specimen showed no SARS-CoV-2 RNA.
According to the authors, the confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in donor blood more than 1 month after symptom resolution is concerning in light of current guidelines, which do not recommend screening in the general allogeneic donor population. Although this case is insufficient to recommend universal SARS-CoV-2 blood screening, the authors say their institution will continue to do so. Read the full text: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/L20-0725.
Media contacts: A PDF for this article is not yet available. Please click the link to read full text. The lead authors, Benjamin A. Pinsky, MD, PhD and Tho D. Pham, MD, can be reached through Julie Greicius at jgreicius@stanford.edu or Lisa Kim at LiKim@stanfordhealthcare.org.