Lower nasopharyngeal viral load in young SARS-CoV-2-positive subjects

The study population consisted of 301 consecutive patients (mean age 45 ±19 years, 146 [48.5%] women) with a definitive diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, who were referred to the Laboratory Medicine Unit of the Pederzoli Hospital (Peschiera del Garda, Verona, Italy) for COVID-19 screening or diagnosis. Ct values of both SARS-CoV-2 S and E genes in subjects aged ≤20 years were found to be higher than those observed in older age cohorts. No significant difference could be observed in Ct values among other cohorts of subjects aged 21-40, 41-60, or ≥60 years (all p>0.05; data not shown). Likewise, the rate of subjects with Ct values of both SARS-CoV-2 S and E genes <29.5 was between 3.1 and 3.8 folds higher than the proportion observed in older age cohorts (Table 1). Notably, no significant differences in Ct values of both SARSCoV-2 S (32.4 [IQR 24.0-35.7] vs. 32.1 [IQR, 23.4-35.3]; p=0.339) and E (33.2 [IQR, 24.1-36.3] vs. 32.3 [IQR, 23.9-36.1]; p=0.346) genes were observed between men and women. The results of this investigation attest that the nasopharyngeal viral load in SARSCoV-2-positive subjects aged 20 years or younger is significantly lower than in older infected people.