Volume 28, Number 1—January 2022
Research Letter
Postmortem Antigen-Detecting Rapid Diagnostic Tests to Predict Infectivity of SARS-CoV-2–Associated Deaths
Fabian Heinrich
, Ann Sophie Schröder, Anna-Lina Gerberding, Moritz Gerling, Felicia Langenwalder, Philine Lange, Axel Heinemann, Eric Bibiza-Freiwald, Dominik Sebastian Nörz, Martin Aepfelbacher, Susanne Pfefferle1 , Benjamin Ondruschka1, and Marc Lütgehetmann1
, Ann Sophie Schröder, Anna-Lina Gerberding, Moritz Gerling, Felicia Langenwalder, Philine Lange, Axel Heinemann, Eric Bibiza-Freiwald, Dominik Sebastian Nörz, Martin Aepfelbacher, Susanne Pfefferle1 , Benjamin Ondruschka1, and Marc Lütgehetmann1
Table
Baseline characteristics of corpses received by the Institute of Legal Medicine, Hamburg, Germany, 2020–2021*
| Characteristic | SARS-CoV-2 RNA positive,† n = 128 | SARS-CoV-2 RNA negative,† n = 72 | Total, n = 200 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age, y, median (IQR) |
83.5 (71.5–89.1) |
81.0 (73.0–87.0) |
82.3 (72.9–88.5) |
| Sex | |||
| M | 71 (55.5) | 36 (50.0) | 107 (53.5) |
| F |
57 (44.5) |
36 (50.0) |
93 (46.5) |
| Place of death | |||
| Home | 28 (22.0) | 30 (41.7) | 58 (29.1) |
| Nursing home | 38 (29.9) | 3 (4.2) | 41 (20.6) |
| Hospital | 39 (30.7) | 25 (34.7) | 64 (32.2) |
| ICU | 20 (15.7) | 10 (13.9) | 30 (15.1) |
| Other |
2 (1.6) |
4 (5.6) |
6 (3.0) |
| Postmortem interval,‡ h, median (IQR) |
8.7 (5.3–82.6) |
4.9 (3.5–8.8) |
7.0 (4.3–49.9) |
| Putrefactive changes |
11 (8.9) |
1 (1.4) |
12 (6.1) |
| SARS-CoV-2 RNA load,¶ copies/mL, median (IQR) | 7.0 x 106 (5.5 × 104–5.2 x 107) | Below LOD | Not applicable |
*Values are no. (%) except as indicated. In case of missing data points, valid percentages are indicated. ICU, Intensive care unit; LOD, limit of detection; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 †B.1.1.7 variants (2/128) identified by multiplex-typing PCR (5). SARS-CoV-2–associated deaths were tested in a multiplex typing PCR for SARS-CoV-2 spike variants. ‡Interval from time of death until initial sampling and cooling at 4°C.
References
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1These senior authors contributed equally to this article.
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