{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T00:01:39Z","timestamp":1784246499815,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,6]],"date-time":"2020-10-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1601942400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,6]],"date-time":"2020-10-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1601942400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Infection"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Purpose<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>According to the European Public Health Authority guidance for ending isolation in the context of COVID-19, a convalescent healthcare worker (HCW) can end their isolation at home and resume work upon clinical improvement and two negative RT-PCR tests from respiratory specimens obtained at 24-h intervals at least 8 days after the onset of symptoms. However, convalescent HCWs may shed SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA for prolonged periods.\n<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>40 healthy HCWs off work because of ongoing positive RT-PCR results in combined nasopharyngeal (NP) and oropharyngeal (OP) swabs following SARS-CoV-2 infection were invited to participate in this study. These HCWs had been in self-isolation because of a PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. NP and OP swabs as well as a blood sample were collected from each participant. RT-PCR and virus isolation was performed with each swab sample and serum neutralization test as well as two different ELISA tests were performed on all serum samples.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>No viable virions could be detected in any of 29 nasopharyngeal and 29 oropharyngeal swabs taken from 15 long-time carriers. We found SARSCoV- 2 RNA in 14\/29 nasopharyngeal and 10\/29 oropharyngeal swabs obtained from screening 15 HCWs with previous COVID-19 up to 55 days after symptom onset. Six (40%) of the 15 initially positive HCWs converted to negative and later reverted to positive again according to their medical records. All but one HCW, a healthy volunteer banned from work, showed the presence of neutralizing antibodies in concomitantly taken blood samples. Late threshold cycle (Ct) values in RT-PCR [mean 37.4; median 37.3; range 30.8\u201341.7] and the lack of virus growth in cell culture indicate that despite the positive PCR results no infectivity remained.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>We recommend lifting isolation if the RT-PCR Ct-value of a naso- or oropharyngeal swab sample is over 30. Positive results obtained from genes targeted with Ct-values &gt; 30 correspond to non-viable\/noninfectious particles that are still detected by RT-PCR. In case of Ct-values lower than 30, a blood sample from the patient should be tested for the presence of neutralizing antibodies. If positive, non-infectiousness can also be assumed.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1007\/s15010-020-01530-4","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,6]],"date-time":"2020-10-06T22:03:03Z","timestamp":1602021783000},"page":"95-101","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":35,"title":["An approach to lifting self-isolation for health care workers with prolonged shedding of SARS-CoV-2 RNA"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"49","author":[{"given":"H.","family":"Laferl","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"H.","family":"Kelani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0484-2240","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"T.","family":"Seitz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"B.","family":"Holzer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"I.","family":"Zimpernik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"A.","family":"Steinrigl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"F.","family":"Schmoll","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"C.","family":"Wenisch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"F.","family":"Allerberger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"1530_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kreidl P, Schmid D, Maritschnik S, et al. 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