SARS-CoV-2 Polymerase Chain Reaction Cycle Threshold Trends in Patients Who Are Immunocompromised and Implications for Isolation Precautions

Courtney E Harris; Vineeta Vaidya; Zhou Lan; Michael Klompas; Chanu Rhee; Lindsey R Baden; Meghan A Baker

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofae367

SARS-CoV-2 Polymerase Chain Reaction Cycle Threshold Trends in Patients Who Are Immunocompromised and Implications for Isolation Precautions

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2024 Jun 29;11(7):ofae367. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofae367. eCollection 2024 Jul.

Authors

Courtney E Harris¹, Vineeta Vaidya², Zhou Lan³, Michael Klompas⁴, Chanu Rhee⁴, Lindsey R Baden⁴, Meghan A Baker⁴

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Disease, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
² Infection Control Department, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
³ Center for Clinical Investigation, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Abstract

Among 495 patients who were immunocompromised and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, polymerase chain reaction cycle thresholds remained <33 beyond 20 days more frequently in patients with hematologic malignancies, particularly those receiving B-cell-depleting or Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy, as compared with those with solid organ malignancy (26% vs 5%).

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cycle threshold; immunocompromised; infection control.