Short report - Herpes simplex lesion in the lip semimucosa in a COVID-19 patient

OBJECTIVE

The present case report aims to make a discussion concerning oral manifestations in a patient with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. Female patient, 20 years old, nursing technician, showed severe sore throat and headache without presence of fever. She tested positive for COVID-19 RT-PCR test in 2 episodes. She also showed lesions in the median lower lip semimucosa and severe pruritus, with a clinical course of 14 days, in which we performed a clinical diagnosis of herpes simplex infection. We need to be precise in terms of clinical appearance and possible relation with the disease, as the clinicians have access to the patients.

Saliva as a source of HCMV DNA in allogeneic stem cell transplantation patients

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of saliva for the identification of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients by real time PCR compared with blood.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Saliva and blood samples were sampled weekly in 30 allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients until 100 days after transplant. Total genomic DNA, extracted from saliva and whole-blood samples, was used for HCMV real time PCR. Nonparametric tests were performed, and P value <or=0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

Human cytomegalovirus DNA load in saliva showed a high correlation with viral DNA in the blood (R = 0.858; P < 0.0001). Blood DNA levels also correlated with HCMV antigenemia (R = 0.773; P < 0.0001). The HCMV levels in saliva (P = 0.015) and blood (P = 0.008) showed higher levels at the beginning of antiviral treatment, with clear reduction after this period. Saliva showed earlier HCMV reactivation than blood detected by real time PCR and antigenemia assay in 11 out of 22 subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that the real time PCR test could be useful to identify HCMV DNA in saliva and to monitor patients at risk of cytomegalovirus disease after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. However, further studies are necessary to confirm this data.