Medical Case Reports

Chronic viral shedding, a condition where the virus continues to be released from an individual's body long after the initial infection, has been observed in many infectious diseases, including COVID-19.  In such cases, individuals may remain asymptomatic or experience only mild symptoms while the virus persists. It remains detectable in repeated tests over an extended period and can still infect others even in nasal swab is negative (which happens quite often ). This was evident in our study.    Recent research by Conway et al. (2024) highlights the possibility of chronic SARS-CoV-2 infection, extending over several months and potentially years. Other studies have documented prolonged asymptomatic infections and extended viral shedding in moderate to severe beyond hospital discharge. Analysis of sequencing data on UK samples taken between 2 November 2020 and 15 August 2022 lead to estimates that 0.1–0.5% of infections may become persistent with typically rebounding high ...

The respiratory viruses are out there.  Wastewater viral activity levels for COVID-19 , as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have reached the highest point since the Omicron surge in 2022. The levels are also high in Canada . The three primary respiratory illnesses continue to circulate at very high levels. But despite the triple threat of  SARS-Cov-2, respiratory syncytial virus ( RSV ) and the flu , there is a notable lack of community attention.   JN.1 (Pirola,  BA.2.86 ,  with additional L455S mutation, descending from a  de-escalated  variant of concern BA.2), initially detected on August 25 2023, has evolved from a variant under monitoring to a  variant of interest. Variants like Acrux (XBB.2.3, that began to spread worldwide soon after WHO declared the end of the pandemic) are  no longer relevant , but a few now less prevalent variants such as  Centaurus  (BA.2.75) and XBB, a hybrid of Centaurus wit...