The SARS-COV-2 Viral Load and the Tides of Infections: A Ghanaian COVID-19 Chronicle at the Ghana Infectious Disease Center

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_49How to use a DOI?

Keywords

SARS-COV-2; COVID-19; Ghana Infectious Disease Centre

Abstract

This study investigated the association between viral load measured using RT-PCR Cycle threshold (Ct) values and infection trends during the waves, based on samples from the Ghana Infectious Disease Centre (GIDC). Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples were collected from two distinct populations: hospitalized individuals and outpatients. These swab samples were screened using RT-PCR. Statistical analysis and generation of graphs were carried out using Stata 17.0 software (Stata Corp). From February 2021 to January 2022, a total of 4082 samples were collected. From these, 1858 (46.9%) tested positive. The data revealed that the second wave, driven by the Delta variant, experienced the highest positivity (45.6%) and the greatest proportion of high-viral-load infections (909), translating into elevated transmission-risk scores. Although the third wave (Omicron) showed a lower positivity rate, the share of high and medium viral loads continued to rise, indicating persistent transmission potential despite a modest decline in case numbers. This study is one of the first in Ghana to correlate SARS-CoV-2 positivity trends with viral load. The second wave exhibited the highest viral load and positivity rate, suggesting greater community transmission. Ct values could serve as an early-warning tool for high-risk periods, aiding in future outbreak preparedness.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - James Lamptey Tetteh
AU  - Thelma N. S. Tetteh
AU  - Joseph Oliver-Commey
AU  - Augustine E. Sagoe
AU  - Harriet Howusu
AU  - Abigail Otiwaa
AU  - Joseph Dodzi
AU  - Lawrence Ofori-Boadu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - The SARS-COV-2 Viral Load and the Tides of Infections: A Ghanaian COVID-19 Chronicle at the Ghana Infectious Disease Center
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering, Science, and Urban Sustainability (ICESUS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 788
EP  - 797
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_49
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_49
ID  - Tetteh2025
ER  -