Possible intraindividual evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal and anal swab in an octogenarian: a case report

Abstract

Introduction COVID-19 is an emerging infectious disease that remains to be further investigated. Case report Here, we describe a case of COVID-19 in an octogenarian woman with comorbidities who slowly recovered during hospitalization, but died due to sudden cardiac death after 2 weeks of hospitalization. Her nasopharyngeal and anal swabs returned positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR on day 7 of hospitalization. The NGS showed possible intraindividual evolution of virus. The sample from the nasopharyngeal swab yielded a B.1470 variant classified as clade GH. This variant showed mutation in the spike gene D614G; N gene; NS3 gene; NSP2 gene and NSP12 gene. The sample from the anal swab showed similar mutation but with additional point mutation in spike gene S12F and was classified as B.1.465 variant. Conclusions The possibility of the gastrointestinal tract that served as reservoir for virus mutation accumulation should also be considered and the potential impact of viral fecal transmission in the environment should be further investigated.