Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education:
Since the emergence of the global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the attention of nephrologists and critical care physicians has centered around the associated incidence of acute kidney injury, sometimes requiring renal replacement therapy, and the devastating impact on ICU admissions and patient mortality. Generally, the duration of positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests of nasopharyngeal swabs among patients with COVID-19 is usually less than 14 days. Our recent experience with one ESRD patient early in the Spring of 2020 has led us to speculate that ESRD patients may well exhibit an unusually prolonged period of persistence of COVID-19. If confirmed, this would lead to major paradigm shifts in continued vigilance to mitigate COVID-19 spread within hemodialysis units around the world.
Please cite this paper as: Onuigbo MAC. Persistence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients with end-stage renal disease; An unrecognized phenomenon? J Renal Inj Prev. 2021; 10(1): e07. doi: 10.34172/jrip.2021.07.