tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Emerg Infect Dis
. 2023 Feb 14;29(3).
doi: 10.3201/eid2903.221297. Online ahead of print.
New Postmortem Perspective on Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern, Germany
Fabian Heinrich, Tobias Huter, Sophie Mertens, Philine Lange, Jessica Vering, Axel Heinemann, Dominik Sebastian Nörz, Armin Hoffmann, Martin Aepfelbacher, Benjamin Ondruschka, Susanne Krasemann, Marc Lütgehetmann
Abstract
We performed autopsies on persons in Germany who died from COVID-19 and observed higher nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral loads for variants of concern (VOC) compared with non-VOC lineages. Pulmonary inflammation and damage appeared higher in non-VOC than VOC lineages until adjusted for vaccination status, suggesting COVID-19 vaccination may mitigate pulmonary damage.
Keywords: Alpha variant; B.1.1.529; B.1.1.7; B.1.617.2; COVID-19; Delta variant; Germany; Omicron variant; SARS; SARS-CoV-2; VOC; coronavirus; coronavirus disease; organ tropism; pulmonary damage; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; variants of concern; viral load; viruses; zoonoses.
. 2023 Feb 14;29(3).
doi: 10.3201/eid2903.221297. Online ahead of print.
New Postmortem Perspective on Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern, Germany
Fabian Heinrich, Tobias Huter, Sophie Mertens, Philine Lange, Jessica Vering, Axel Heinemann, Dominik Sebastian Nörz, Armin Hoffmann, Martin Aepfelbacher, Benjamin Ondruschka, Susanne Krasemann, Marc Lütgehetmann
- PMID: 36787498
- DOI: 10.3201/eid2903.221297
Abstract
We performed autopsies on persons in Germany who died from COVID-19 and observed higher nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral loads for variants of concern (VOC) compared with non-VOC lineages. Pulmonary inflammation and damage appeared higher in non-VOC than VOC lineages until adjusted for vaccination status, suggesting COVID-19 vaccination may mitigate pulmonary damage.
Keywords: Alpha variant; B.1.1.529; B.1.1.7; B.1.617.2; COVID-19; Delta variant; Germany; Omicron variant; SARS; SARS-CoV-2; VOC; coronavirus; coronavirus disease; organ tropism; pulmonary damage; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; variants of concern; viral load; viruses; zoonoses.