Coronavirus can persist for months after traversing entire body: Study

Pathogen is capable of replicating in human cells beyond respiratory tract, say scientists

The coronavirus that causes Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, can spread within days from the airways to the heart, brain and almost every organ system in the body, where it may persist for months, a study found.

In what they describe as the most comprehensive analysis to date of the virus’s distribution and persistence in the body and brain, scientists at the US National Institutes of Health said they found the pathogen is capable of replicating in human cells well beyond the respiratory tract.

The results, released online on Saturday in a manuscript under review for publication in the journal Nature, point to delayed viral