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 ...

In a cohort study of 664 722 patients who received at least 1 dose of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, solid organ transplant recipients had a higher rate for COVID-19 breakthrough infection and worse outcomes after full or partial vaccination, compared with persons without immune dysfunction.  We describe 4 fatal breakthroughs with liver and kidney transplant recipients aged 13-69.  Two vaccinated solid organ transplant recipients (68M, liver and 69M, renal transplant) infected with Alpha variant had severe pneumonia requiring intensive care admission and ventilatory support and subsequently died. Both got vaccinated with  BNT162b2 mRNA (Pfizer-BioNTech),  were on tacrolimus medication, spent over 40 days in ICU and received  Dexamethasone  and Tocilizumab as part of their COVID-19 treatment. Both had  Diabetes mellitus and  Hypertension. These cases were a part of case series of four fully vaccinated solid organ transplant recipients who developed SARS-Co...

As Coronavirus is evolving breakthrough infections are not breakthroughs anymore.  The first Israeli who died from Omicron was a fully vaccinated and boosted woman . The first Australian was a fully vaccinated man in his 80s with an underlying health condition. The first US case was a reinfection in an unvaccinated man in his 50s . The first India death  from Omicron was a fully vaccinated 74-year-old man with diabetes. The first Brazilian was a triple-vaccinated 68-year-old man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and arterial hypertension. According to  today's technical briefing  from UK Health Security Agency, a total of 57 people has been reported to have died within 28 days of an Omicron COVID-19 diagnosis up to 29 December 2021. The median time from Omicron specimen date to death was 5 days (range 0 to 14). The age of those dying ranged from 41 to 99 years. 23% of Omicron cases were vaccinated with 3 doses, over 50% with two doses, while 25% where...

A study of vaccinated and unvaccinated residents of Bangladesh observed that ChAdOx1 could not prevent the new infection or severe COVID-19 disease outcome with single dose when infections were mostly caused by B.1.351 (the Beta) variants of SARS-CoV2.  About 39% (n = 42) of the respondents were infected after the COVID-19 vaccination. The first dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine was received by 40 (37.0%) cases and both doses were completed by only 2 (2%) cases. The average duration between vaccination (partially or completely immunized) and  COVID 19  diagnosis was 32 (±17) days.  The hospitalization rate of comorbid patients was 23.5% among the immunized and 24.1% among the nonimmunized groups. There was no significant difference in duration of hospitalization either (p=0.78).  Genomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern identified from the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 immunized patients from Southwest part of Bangladesh Author links open overlay panel Hassan M. Al-E...

According to the Israeli Ministry of Health registry, by 26 April 2021, 397 fully vaccinated patients were hospitalized in Israel with PCR-proven COVID-19 after their second vaccine dose, 234 of them had severe COVID-19 and 90 died.  The distribution of variants of concern between the groups showed that both had a majority of B.1.1.7 (alpha), whereas the two B.1.351 variants (beta) were from patients that survived.  Co-morbidities were more common in patients with vaccine breakthrough infections compared with unvaccinated hospitalized patients , including diabetes (48% versus 27.9%–34.7%), hypertension (71% versus 43.5%–62%), heart failure (28% versus 5.8%–12.8%), chronic lung diseases (24% versus 7.4%–16.5%), chronic kidney disease (32% versus 12.7%–22.8%) and cancer (24% versus 4.8%–10.8%). Anti-Spike IgG (immunoglobulin G, antibodies involved in secondary response) were found in lower numbers in serum of patients with a poor outcome. The mortality rate in the cohort was si...

  29 individuals died from COVID-19 despite vaccination with BNT16262 and AZD1222 vaccines. Autopsies showed high numbers of Coronavirus in lungs. Immunoglobulin levels were normal in some cases. One person did not have any relevant comorbidities. SARS-CoV2 variants responsible included B.1.1.7 Alpha, B.1.6.17.2 Delta, Belgian lineage B.1.1.221  and European Lineage B.1.9.4   High Viral Loads: What Drives Fatal Cases of COVID-19 in vaccinees? - an autopsy study   Klaus   Hirschbühl ,  Tina   Schaller ,    View ORCID Profile Bruno   Märkl ,  Rainer   Claus ,  Eva   Sipos ,  Lukas   Rentschler ,  Andrea   Maccagno ,  Bianca   Grosser ,  Elisabeth   Kling ,  Michael   Neidig   IV. ,  Thomas   Kröncke ,  Oliver   Spring ,  Georg   Braun ,  Hans   Bösmüller ,  Maximilian   Seidl ,  Irene   Esposito ,  J...