Corona virus: what the PCR tests say – and what doesn’t

“However, the test does not show whether or not there are reproducible viruses in the body.” – “PCR-positive or PCR-negative does not always mean that someone is infectious or not,” emphasizes the infectiologist Florian Thalhammer. “There were people whose PCR tests were positive for 60 to 70 days without the risk of infection. The clinical infectiologist knows when the disease has passed and the patient is healthy, regardless of what the laboratory result says. “

Viruses have to penetrate cells and infect them in order to survive, Hörmann emphasizes. “A PCR test is therefore evidence of an acute or – in rare cases – a maximum of a few weeks to, in exceptional cases, about two months ago. But this can go without symptoms of illness. “

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