Emerging Infectious Diseases (Jan 2021)
Postmortem Stability of SARS-CoV-2 in Nasopharyngeal Mucosa
Abstract
Analyses of infection chains have demonstrated that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is highly transmissive. However, data on postmortem stability and infectivity are lacking. Our finding of nasopharyngeal viral RNA stability in 79 corpses showed no time-dependent decrease. Maintained infectivity is supported by virus isolation up to 35 hours postmortem.
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