Viruria basically describes the presence of viruses in the urine.
In acute viral infections, the virus is usually present in the blood, throat and faeces, but in some cases also in cerebrospinal fluid and urine. Particularly in the case of virus-related infections (especially adenoviruses) in the genitourinary system, viruses can be detected quite well in urine.
Generally, Viruses are detected in the urine in three ways:
Viral infections in which viruria is more important are:
Depending on the infection, further transmission by urine can be more or less important. Essential ways are:
In the case of animal viruses, these are transmitted by contact with the urine of host animals or by inhalation of the dried-up host urine. For example hantaviruses and arena viruses.
With regard to corona viruses (MERS-CoV, e.g. COVID-19, SARS), there are indeed case reports in which viral RNA of MERS-CoV has been found in the respiratory tract, blood, urine and stool. Although the MERS corona virus is particularly prevalent in the lower respiratory tract, small amounts of virus have been detected in these samples. In recent studies on COVID-19 patients, an influence on kidney function was also found in certain patient groups, including acute kidney damage and proteinuria. The link is currently being investigated in more detail in studies – especially which groups are particularly at risk.
With regard to Medipee Technology, there is no concrete test for these viruses available yet. This is part of development work. However, the pandemic spread of fever-causing viruses could be monitored by measuring the urine temperature across the country. Infection nests could thus be located at an early stage. If a correlation of positive values in the urine of albumin, erythrocytes, leukocytes and COVID-19 is confirmed in certain patient groups, urine monitoring via the Medipee system could also be a suitable approach.
See also: Blood in urine, Medication, Did you know?
