To predict the clinical outcome of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), we examined relationships among epidemiological data, viral load, and disease severity. We examined viral loads of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in fatal (15 cases), symptomatic/survived (133 cases), and asymptomatic cases (138 cases) using reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). We examined 5768 nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) and attempted to detect the SARS-CoV-2 genome using RT-qPCR. Among them, the viral genome was detected using the method for the 370 NPS samples with a positive rate of 6.4%. A comparison of each age showed that the fatal case was higher than the survived case and asymptomatic patients. Survived cases were older than asymptomatic patients. Notably, the viral load in the fatal cases was significantly higher than in symptomatic or asymptomatic cases ( p < 0.05). These results suggested that a high viral load of the SARS-CoV-2 in elderly patients at an early stage of the disease results in a poor outcome. We should, therefore, intervene early to prevent a severe stage of the disease in such cases.
【저자키워드】 Clinical course, Viral load, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, disease severity, outcome, elderly patients, coronavirus disease-2019, Clinical outcome, Nasopharyngeal swab, RT-qPCR, Viral, Viral load, nasopharyngeal swabs, SARS-CoV-2 genome, symptomatic, Asymptomatic case, Asymptomatic cases, age, reverse transcription, epidemiological data, respiratory, positive rate, asymptomatic patients, early stage, predict, viral genome, Elderly patient, acute respiratory syndrome, Older, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, high viral load, viral loads, quantitative real-time PCR, NPs, Prevent, detect, examined, the disease, suggested, significantly higher, survived, intervene, the SARS-CoV-2, the SARS-CoV-2 genome, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, Viral, clinical, load, relationship,