SARS-CoV-2 systemic infection in a kidney transplant recipient: sequence analysis in clinical specimens

Herein we report clinical and virological data in a patient with COVID-19 infection and a prior history of kidney transplantation who had a good clinical recovery despite systemic infection.

Reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR analysis for the RdRp, N and E target genes detected viral RNA in different types of biological specimens. Whole viral genome sequences were obtained and analyzed from respiratory tract, feces and blood.

Viral sequences showed high (~99.9%) homology with the Wuhan seafood market pneumonia virus. Phylogenetic analysis assigned of the SARS-CoV-2 strains to clade G. A rare variant in the orf1ab gene was present in both sequences, while a missense variant was detected only in viral RNA from stool.

The evolution of the COVID-19 systemic infection in the patient presented here was favorable to the hypothesis that immunosuppressive therapy in organ transplant recipients might be involved in viral dissemination. A missense mutation was present in only one specimen from the same patient implying the occurrence of a mutational event in viral RNA, which is suggestive for the presence of an active virus, even though viral isolation is necessary to demonstrate infectivity.