Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant in a severely immunocompromised HIV-1-infected patient in the omicron era.

ABSTRACT

Persistence of detectable viral RNA does not depend on the symptomatic status of the patients. Here we describe the case of a strongly immunocompromised patient living with a prolonged SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant infection without showing any symptoms. The importance of our findings is that the persistence of infection with an old SARS-CoV-2 strain, in an immunocompromised host, may allow recombination events generating new viral variants whose pathogenicity cannot be predicted. Our observation calls for the urgent need for continuous monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 genomic evolution in immunocompromised patients.