Acute kidney injury in COVID-19: are kidneys the target or just collateral damage? A comprehensive assessment of viral RNA and AKI rate in patients with COVID-19.

Purpose Of Review: To investigate the possible effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on kidney function and assess the rate of viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) shedding/detection in urine.

Recent Findings: Most of the research on the topic suggests that for the moment our ability to estimate whether SARS-CoV-2 is a direct causative agent in acute kidney injury (AKI) or whether it has a cytokine storm effect is limited. During our prospective assessment of 333 patients with COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) it was found that frequency of AKI of 9.