Objectives. Viral load is important when evaluating viral transmission potential, involving the use of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cycle threshold (Ct) value. We aimed to analyze the PCR Ct values of respiratory tract samples taken from patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant strains to evaluate these strains’ viral dynamics. Methods. This study comprised 361 patients. The Ct values of SARS-CoV-2-related respiratory samples were compared between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Results. The median (25^th percentile and 75^th percentile) nasopharynx and oropharynx SARS-CoV-2 Ct values were 30.5 (24.5–35.0) and 34.5 (30.0–37.0) in the symptomatic group, respectively, and 27.8 (23.4–34.5) and 33.5 (26.0–35.0) in the asymptomatic group, respectively, without significance. In the symptomatic group, subgroup analyses according to age showed the mean nasal Ct value for patients aged >18 years was 29.0 (23.5–34.5), which was significantly lower than that of patients aged 0–4 years and 5–13 years (36.0 (30.5–38.0) and 34.5 (31.0–39.0), respectively). The nasal Ct value for asymptomatic patients aged >18 years was 25.5 (20.9–28.4), which was significantly lower than of patients aged 5–13 years (34.5 (25.6–36.4)). Conclusion. Our findings suggest that the viral loads of asymptomatic and symptomatic patients did not differ significantly. However, adults infected with SARS-CoV-2 had higher nasal viral loads that those of young children.

中文翻译：

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有症状和无症状 COVID-19 Omicron 变异阳性患者的病毒 RNA 载量

目标。在评估病毒传播潜力时，病毒载量很重要，包括使用聚合酶链反应 (PCR) 循环阈值 (Ct) 值。我们旨在分析从患有严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron 变异株的患者采集的呼吸道样本的 PCR Ct 值，以评估这些株的病毒动力学。方法。这项研究包括 361 名患者。比较有症状和无症状患者的 SARS-CoV-2 相关呼吸道样本的 Ct 值。结果。中位数（第 25^个百分位和第 75^个百分位percentile) 鼻咽部和口咽部 SARS-CoV-2 Ct 值在有症状组中分别为 30.5 (24.5–35.0) 和 34.5 (30.0–37.0)，在无症状组中分别为 27.8 (23.4–34.5) 和 33.5 (26.0–35.0)组，分别无意义。在有症状组中，根据年龄进行的亚组分析显示，>18 岁患者的平均鼻 Ct 值为 29.0（23.5-34.5），显着低于 0-4 岁和 5-13 岁患者（36.0 (30.5–38.0) 和 34.5 (31.0–39.0)，分别）。18 岁以上无症状患者的鼻 Ct 值为 25.5（20.9-28.4），显着低于 5-13 岁患者（34.5（25.6-36.4））。结论. 我们的研究结果表明，无症状和有症状患者的病毒载量没有显着差异。然而，感染 SARS-CoV-2 的成年人的鼻病毒载量高于幼儿。