SARS-CoV-2 Viral RNA Is Detected in the Bone Marrow in Post-Mortem Samples Using RT-LAMP

Tomasz Jurek; Marta Rorat; Łukasz Szleszkowski; Miron Tokarski; Izabela Pielka; Małgorzata Małodobra-Mazur

doi:10.3390/diagnostics12020515

SARS-CoV-2 Viral RNA Is Detected in the Bone Marrow in Post-Mortem Samples Using RT-LAMP

Diagnostics (Basel). 2022 Feb 17;12(2):515. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12020515.

Authors

Tomasz Jurek¹, Marta Rorat¹, Łukasz Szleszkowski¹, Miron Tokarski², Izabela Pielka², Małgorzata Małodobra-Mazur^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Forensic Medicine, Wroclaw Medical University, 50-345 Wrocław, Poland.
² Genomtec Inc., Bierutowska Street 57-59, 51-317 Wroclaw, Poland.
³ Department of Molecular Techniques, Wroclaw Medical University, 50-367 Wrocław, Poland.

Abstract

Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in late 2019, viral RNA has been detected in several different human tissues and organs. This study reports the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the bone marrow. Post-mortem samples were taken in a sterile manner during two forensic autopsies from the nasopharyngeal region, vitreous humor, cerebrospinal fluid, and bone marrow. SARS-CoV-2 was subsequently diagnosed via Genomtec^® SARS-CoV-2 EvaGreen^® RT-LAMP CE-IVD Duo Kit. In both postmortem patients, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in bone marrow samples. However, both the vitreous humor and cerebrospinal fluid from the same patients gave negative results using the same test system. The evidence of viral RNA in the bone marrow, along with other reports supports the thesis that SARS-CoV-2 infections are systemic in nature, the consequences of which would profoundly influence both the testing and survival of patients.

Keywords: RT-LAMP; SARS-CoV-2; bone marrow; detection; postmortem samples.

Publication types

Case Reports

Abstract

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