Post-COVID-19 Syndrome in Outpatients and Its Association with Viral Load.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic is the result of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has caused more than 100 million infections and more than 2.5 million deaths worldwide, representing a serious public health problem. The gold method for detecting this virus is qRT-PCR, which is a semiquantitative technique where the viral load can be established through its cycle threshold (Ct). It has also been reported that COVID-19 generates long-term symptoms (post-COVID-19). METHODS: After three months, a survey was performed on 70 COVID-19 confirmed patients; subsequently, we divided them into four groups (persistent symptoms, chemo-sensitive, cognitive issues, and changes in habit) in order to determine the correlation between viral load and post-COVID-19 symptoms. RESULTS: Data show that fatigue, nervousness, anosmia, and diet changes are common long-term symptoms; in addition, a negative correlation was found between viral load and the number of post-COVID-19 symptoms. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 generates long-term symptoms which can cause problems with psychological and social repercussions.