Comparison of anterior nares C(T) values in asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 in a university screening program

At our university based high throughput screening program, we test all members of our community weekly using RT-qPCR. RT-qPCR cycle threshold (C(T)) values are inversely proportional to the amount of viral RNA in a sample and are a proxy for viral load. We hypothesized that C(T) values would be higher, and thus the viral loads at the time of diagnosis would be lower, in individuals who were infected with the virus but remained asymptomatic throughout the course of the infection. We collected the N1 and N2 target gene C(T) values from 1633 SARS-CoV-2 positive RT-qPCR tests of individuals sampled between August 7, 2020, and March 18, 2021, at the BU Clinical Testing Laboratory. We matched this data with symptom reporting data from our clinical team. We found that asymptomatic patients had C(T) values significantly higher than symptomatic individuals on the day of diagnosis. Symptoms were followed by the clinical team for 10 days post the first positive test. Within the entire population, 78.1% experienced at least one symptom during surveillance by the clinical team (n = 1276/1633). Of those experiencing symptoms, the most common symptoms were nasal congestion (73%, n = 932/1276), cough (60.0%, n = 761/1276), fatigue (59.0%, n = 753/1276), and sore throat (53.1%, n = 678/1276). The least common symptoms were diarrhea (12.5%, n = 160/1276), dyspnea on exertion (DOE) (6.9%, n = 88/1276), foot or skin changes (including rash) (4.2%, n = 53/1276), and vomiting (2.1%, n = 27/1276). Presymptomatic individuals, those who were not symptomatic on the day of diagnosis but became symptomatic over the following 10 days, had C(T) values higher for both N1 (median = 27.1, IQR 20.2–32.9) and N2 (median = 26.6, IQR 20.1–32.8) than the symptomatic group N1 (median = 21.8, IQR 17.2–29.4) and N2 (median = 21.4, IQR 17.3–28.9) but lower than the asymptomatic group N1 (median = 29.9, IQR 23.6–35.5) and N2 (median = 30.0, IQR 23.1–35.7). This study supports the hypothesis that viral load in the anterior nares on the day of diagnosis is a measure of disease intensity at that time.