As the global COVID-19 virus spreads around the world with different mutations and changes occurring across different countries, the scientific community’s knowledge of the virus is also expanding. A recent study found that the virus can lie in the lungs even when swab tests on the back of the nose and throat report negative feedback. Doctors found out this unfortunate news after injecting an infectious lung into a patient who later died of COVID-19.
University of Michigan surgeons obtained the lungs from a deceased donor who tested negative for the virus and reportedly never were exposed to it. The recipient of the organ developed fever, hypotension and lung infiltrates three days after transplantation, and one of the surgeons developed COVID-19 as well.
The team collected a fluid sample from the patient’s new lungs and compared it with a sample taken from the lungs immediately after removal from the donor, as well as swab samples from the infectious surgeon.
Genetic tests showed that both the patient and the surgeon had contracted a virus from the donor’s lungs, doctors said in the American Journal of Transplantation.
The surgeon had only worn a surgical mask when preparing the lungs for transplant, instead of full personal protective equipment because both the donor and the recipient had a negative test.
Samples collected from deep inside the lungs should be provided for the coronavirus, said the report’s co-author, Dr. Daniel Kaul. The virus is less likely to be transmitted by other transmitted organs, such as the liver or kidneys, it told Reuters.