Persistent viral shedding despite seroconversion in a kidney transplant recipient with severe extrapulmonary COVID-19.

ABSTRACT

Renal transplant (RT) recipients are at increased risk for infectious complications. The clinical course of COVID-19 has been described in several RT recipients with varying clinical outcomes. Most present with pulmonary manifestations, however extrapulmonary presentations are not uncommon. Also, the timing and efficacy of seroconversion in transplant recipients is not well known. This report describes the duration of viral shedding and timing of seroconversion in a young adult RT recipient with COVID-19 who presented with severe diarrhoea and acute kidney injury requiring dialysis. She developed anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody after 5 weeks despite persistently shedding the virus in the nasopharynx until 6 weeks after symptom onset. Further studies are needed to determine if immunosuppressed patients have prolonged viral shedding and are still contagious despite seroconversion.